On Tuesday, MEPs re-elected Roberta Metsola as President of the European Parliament until 2027. She received 562 votes in the first round, securing an absolute majority out of 699 votes cast by secret paper ballot. This makes her the leader of Parliament for the first two and a half years of the 10th legislative term.
There were two candidates in the running for the presidency: Roberta Metsola from EPP, Malta and Irene Montero from The Left, Spain. Metsola received 562 votes, while Montero received 61. For an absolute majority, they needed 312 votes. 699 MEPs voted, and there were 76 blank or invalid votes. Both candidates gave brief presentations before the first round of voting.
Born in Malta in 1979, Roberta Metsola has been an MEP since 2013. She was elected First Vice President in November 2020 and was Parliament’s acting President after President David Sassoli passed away on 11 January 2022. On 18 January 2022, she was elected President for the second half of the 9th legislative term. She is the third female President of the European Parliament, after Simone Veil (1979-1982) and Nicole Fontaine (1999-2002).
Addressing the House after she was elected, President Metsola said: “Together, we must stand up for the politics of hope, for the dream that is Europe. I want people to recapture a sense of belief and enthusiasm for our project. A belief to make our shared space safer, fairer, more just and more equal. A belief that together, we are stronger and we are better. A belief that ours is a Europe for all.”
The Rules of Procedure outline the President of the European Parliament’s wide range of executive and representative powers. In addition to these duties, the President can preside over Parliament proceedings and ensure proper conduct.
According to Article 14 of the Treaty on the European Union, the Parliament elects its President from among its Members. Since the first European elections with universal suffrage in 1979, each President has served for a renewable period of two and a half years. This means that there can be two Presidents in each legislative term. Since the Parliament was established in 1952, there have been 31 presidents, 17 of whom have served since 1979.
