Maltas Metsola re-elected European Parliament president with 90% of the vote
Roberta Metsola obtains the support of 562 MEPs from the 623 who voted in the election of European Parliament president • Metsola tells MEPs 'this parliament will remain the house of every European'
Updated at 12:35pm with voting result
Roberta Metsola was re-elected president of the European Parliament in a show of overwhelming support on Tuesday as the new legislature got underway in Strasbourg.
Metsola obtained 562 votes from the 623 valid votes cast, a stratospheric 90% of support. She defeated Spanish MEP Irene Montero, who obtained 61 votes.
This is Metsola's second consecutive term as president and she will hold the position until January 2027.
In a speech just after being confirmed, Metsola told MEPs the parliament "will remain the house of every European" as she detailed several issues of concern across Europe.
Starting off her speech in Maltese, Metsola delivered the bulk of her address in English but also spoke French and Italian.
"We need to move beyond zero-sum thinking that foments hate," she said, highlighting the need to combat anti-semitism and Islamophobia, while ensuring a Europe of equality for disabled people and minorities.
She also referenced women's rights and spoke of creating a Europe of which Konrad Adenauer, Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino, Eddie Fenech Adami, Lech Walesa and other committed Europeans "would be proud of".
She was greeted with resounding applause, however Labour MEPs Alex Agius Saliba and Daniel Attard - who abstained in defiance of Labour leader Robert Abela's stand in support of Metsola as a Maltese national - refrained from clapping.
Congratulations @RobertaMetsola on being reconfirmed as @EP_President for the next two and a half years.
— Ian Borg (@MinisterIanBorg) July 16, 2024
2024 is indeed a historic year for Malta, with our seat on the @UN Security Council, the 2024 Maltese Chairpersonship of the @OSCE, and a Maltese MEP leading the…
Malta's Foreign Minister Ian Borg congratulated Metsola in a message on X, describing this a historic year for Malta with its chairpersonship of the OSCE, the seat on the UN Security Council and now "a Maltese MEP leading the European Parliament".
Opposition leader Bernard Grech also congratulated Metsola and said she will put the common good before anything else.
The vote will be followed by the election of the 14 vice-presidents, proportionally distributed among the main parties. This will assess the effectiveness of the cordon sanitaire: Patriots for Europe is vying to secure one of the vice-presidents, something that the EPP, the Socialists and the Liberals have vowed to prevent.
“These are elected posts of the Parliament,” an EPP spokesperson said on Friday. “We don't want these MEPs to represent the institution, that’s the main reason.”
Metsola was elected European Parliament president in January 2022 getting an absolute majority of votes on the first round.
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