[WATCH] Robert Abela will support Metsola's bid for European Parliament president

Prime Minister Robert Abela has backed Roberta Metsola’s bid to be the next European Parliament president.

However, he passed a grudging remark when offering his support.

“If I did not support her nomination, I would be doing exactly what she did to our country. So the response is obvious: yes, I support I her,” he said.

The Labour Party has often accused Nationalist Party MEPs, like Metsola, of trying to sully Malta’s reputation at the EU level.

Ahead of a parliamentary resolution on the rule of law in Malta, Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba claimed that the debate was only being held because of pressure from PN MEPs David Casa and Roberta Metsola.

Despite this, Agius Saliba was the first Labour MEP to extend his support to Metsola in her bid to become Malta’s first European Parliament president.  

Metsola formally submitted her candidature to be the European People’s Party candidate on Monday alongside Austrian MEP Othmar Karas and Dutch MEP Esther de Lange.

The three-way race will be decided on Wednesday by EPP delegates and the winner will be pushed by the party for the presidency of the parliament.

Metsola, 42, was first elected a member of the European Parliament for the Nationalist Party in a casual election in 2013. She was subsequently elected on her own steam in 2014 and 2019.

She currently holds the post of first vice president of the EP and sits on the committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs. Metsola was more recently the rapporteur on anti-SLAPP legislative initiative being considered by the parliament.

READ ALSO: Roberta Metsola submits EPP candidature for European Parliament president