Roberta Metsola up for MEP of the Year

MEP and PN Shadow Minister Roberta Metsola has been nominated for the prestigious MEP of the Year award for her work on Justice and Civil Liberties issues in Europe.

She is one of three MEPs nominated for the award with the other two nominees hailing from Germany and Poland - two of the largest EU Member States.

Metsola who was elected in 2013, became one of the first female MEPs from Malta after she replaced Simon Busuttil in the European Parliament. She was then re-elected in 2014 with close to 33,000 votes.

Metsola was elected as the European People's Party (EPP) Deputy Coordinator of the Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Civil Liberties. She is Vice-President of the Petitions Committee, a Member of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee and forms part of the Delegation for relations with the United States of America and the Delegation for relations with Australia and New Zealand.

"I try not to give too much importance to these sort of awards and focus on the work ahead. But it is an honour for Malta, for the PN and for me personally to have been shortlisted. It is always satisfying for your work to be acknowledged and to be voted for by other MEPs from across Party lines. I will continue to work hard in the best interests of all the people of Malta and Gozo, irrespective of any awards,” Metsola said. 

In the last year, she has been the European Parliament's official Rapporteur on two reports on the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and its cooperation with associated States which passed in plenary with broad cross party support. She has been intrinsically involved in the debates on terrorism, migration, Libya, TTIP and has pushed for support for countries in the Mediterranean and is the Parliament's rapporteur on two further reports on asylum and EASO.

Metsola has also been involved in debates on consumer protection issues, data protection and privacy online, increased transparency and campaigns to end mobile phone roaming charges.

She was appointed as the EPP spokesperson on the European Parliament's ground-breaking report on Anti-Discrimination and homophobia last year. Last November, she also joined other colleagues in being one of the initiators of last November's Joint Motion for a Resolution on the 25th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the rights of the child.

The award is organised by The Parliament Magazine, an EU publication which focuses on European Parliament affairs. MEPs are nominated in different categories and are voted for by other MEPs. The results of the vote will be announced on 18 March.