Not all Austrian MPs voted for the Maltese. The Greens have criticized “backroom deals” and Metsola’s conservative stance on abortion.
The Christian Democrat Roberta Metsola is the new President of the European Parliament. The MEPs in Strasbourg elected the 43-year-old as their leader in the first ballot on Tuesday with 458 out of 616 valid votes cast. Metsola is the third woman to hold the prestigious post and the youngest person ever in Parliament’s history. Metsola said immediately after her election that she was honored by the responsibility that was entrusted to her. Her election came earlier than expected after her predecessor, Italian Social Democrat David Sassoli, died unexpectedly last week.
Sassoli’s term would have ended normally in January. Metsola prevailed against applicants from two other factions on Tuesday, her birthday. The left had sent the Spaniard Sira Rego into the race, the Greens the Swede Alice Bah Kuhnke. The Social Democrats and the Liberals had not put forward their own candidates and supported Metsola. In return, they should, among other things, each provide one more vice president than before, according to parliamentary circles.
The 14 Vice Presidents of the EU Parliament will then be elected. The Austrian MPs Othmar Karas (ÖVP) and Evelyn Regner (SPÖ) are running for this office. Karas is already one of the vice-presidents of the EU parliament.
fight against corruption
Metsola, who studied European law, has been a member of the European Parliament since 2013 and has been its first vice president since November 2020. She made a name for herself as an advocate of the rule of law and as a fighter against corruption. She is married to a Finn and has four sons.
Metsola is married to her husband Ukko Metsola, who is Finnish – they have four sons. “I have always stood for a moderate policy against extremism, for a policy based on truth, justice and correctness, based on facts and not for a policy of identity,” she describes her political credo on her website.
The fact that the European People’s Party, to which the ÖVP also belongs, now provides the President of Parliament, was part of a complex personnel package after the 2019 European elections. Accordingly, it was the turn of a Social Democrat – Sassoli – after two and a half years, a Christian Democrat should follow.
The President of the European Parliament directs all activities of the plenary, maintains order during sessions, gives speakers the floor and signs laws.
The fact that Metsola was able to assert itself politically is also due to the support of the EPP Group Chairman Manfred Weber. After the Italian-born social democrat Sassoli had been in office for two and a half years, it was now the turn of the EPP, following an agreement between the major groups. In the European People’s Party, Metsola prevailed against several competitors – including the Austrian ÖVP MEP and Vice President of the EU Parliament, Othmar Karas. “She will strongly represent the European Parliament both internally and externally,” said Karas after her election on Tuesday.
FPÖ and Greens voted against Metsola
In addition to the ÖVP MPs, whose EPP group Metsola belongs to, the SPÖ MEPs and the Neos MEP Claudia Gamon also said they voted for Metsola. Massive criticism came from the Greens, who had put up their own candidate with the Swedish MP Alice Bah Kuhnke and are not part of the deal.
For the future president there are many tasks from digitization, climate protection to social justice, said SPÖ delegation spokeswoman Regner. Metsola also needs a clear position on abortion rights and the sexual and reproductive rights of women, Regner criticized the previous position of the Maltese MPs on these issues. Metsola will not be president of her conservative EPP group, but of the entire parliament, said Regner. She was disappointed by the Greens that they had put up their own candidate.
ÖVP delegation leader Angelika Winzig and the Vice President of the European Parliament, Othmar Karas, welcomed the election of Metsola. She is “a strong woman and a thoroughbred politician”, brings “a breath of fresh air to the European Union and is a tireless defender of common European values,” said Winzig. “She will strongly represent the European Parliament both internally and externally,” said Karas.
Gamon also described Metsola as “very convincing, she has great leadership qualities”. Metsola will also have a clear focus on gender equality. The cooperation between the EPP, Social Democrats and Renew (Liberals) for the next two and a half years is also a substantive one that will be recorded in a kind of coalition paper. The main topics are the rule of law, climate neutrality and the Green Deal as well as the EU conference on the future. This agreement must not fail due to political small-mindedness.
“backroom deal”
The Greens reacted angrily about the “backroom deal” between the EPP, the Social Democrats and the Liberals. The co-chair of the European Greens, Thomas Waitz, and the head of the delegation, Monika Vana, were “shocked” on Tuesday that the deal would break the previous tradition of filling posts in the European Parliament using the so-called D’Hondt system in order to maximize the number of seats in the European Parliament Achieving balance among the factions. As a result, Social Democrats and Liberals would get one more representative than before, which is painful for the Greens, Vana said.
“Backroom deals have been made that are horrible, democratic customs are being trampled on, posts are being divided up,” lamented Waitz. Vana criticized that the Greens had also tried to talk to the other parties before Christmas, but had “started on good Viennese”. The head of the delegation suspects that the forthcoming European elections in 2024 already played a role.
In its previous positioning on women’s issues, Metsola was “very conservative to opposed to abortion rights,” says Vana. However, the criticism of the Greens is not directed at the candidatures of Regner and Karas, both would be “excellent” candidates.
(APA/dpa)