“A Strong Parliament in a Strong Europe” – New European Parliament Re-elects Roberta Metsola as President
The new European Parliament, which officially began its work on Tuesday, 16 July in Strasbourg after the European Parliament elections on 6-9 June, re-elected Roberta Metsola as its President. She will hold this position for another two and a half years.
Roberta Metsola, former President of the European Parliament, chaired the opening session. Immediately after the opening, a secret ballot was held with paper ballots. The process was observed by 8 MEPs elected by lot.
The candidates for the presidency were Roberta Metsola (EPP, Montana) and Irene Montero (Left, Spain). Before the vote, both made short statements at the plenary session.
Roberta Metsola won the election in the first round of voting, where she received an absolute majority of 562 votes out of 699 cast by secret ballot among two candidates. She will continue to lead the parliament for the first two and a half years of the 10th parliamentary term.
Following her re-election as president, Roberta Metsola addressed the European Parliament.
‘Dear Europeans, it is with a sense of humility and responsibility that I feel honoured by the trust you have placed in me to continue to serve as your President. I will work every day to repay that trust in me and in this Parliament,’ she said.
‘We will make Europe a better place by creating a new security and defence structure that keeps people safe and counteracts the expansionist dreams of dictators in our neighbourhood. This defeats the hybrid threats we still face,’ the President of the European Parliament stressed.
‘We have to be ready to go beyond the comfortable and do what is necessary. People in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, all those in the Western Balkans are looking at us, and we have to be ready to extend our hand to them in Europe,’ added Metcola.
Today, MEPs will elect 14 vice presidents in addition to the president. On Thursday, they will vote for Ursula von der Leyen's second term as President of the European Commission.
In total, 54% of the new MEPs in the new European Parliament are women and 39% are new MEPs.