Shortly after announcing the opening of the work of the 10th legislature of the European Parliament, this Tuesday, in Strasbourg, the European Member of the European People’s Party, Roberta Metsola, was elected for a second term of two and a half years as president of the -any European institution elected by universal suffrage – pledging to the 720 members of the new chamber to “maintain pressure to ensure the right of legislative initiative”, improve scrutiny powers and “resolve other institutional imbalances” with other bodies of part of the European Union.
“This Parliament cannot be afraid to lead and make change. We cannot accept that our role has been diluted. Parliament must be strengthened”, said Metsola, who promised to work to “guarantee that the European Parliament can be a legislative and political power” provided for in the treaties.
Roberta Metsola was the second president of the European Parliament to be re-elected to remain in office for five years. Confirmation occurred in the first round of voting, in which got 562 of the 623 votes cast: a historic result 90% which was already expected, and which will certainly give encouragement to the team of the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who will face a more difficult test in Strasbourg this Thursday.
The Spanish MEP Irene Montero, who was the leader of the Podemos list in the European elections and promoted his candidacy for the presidency of the Parliament the night before the start of work, received 61 votes.
In his speech before the vote, the vice-president of the parliamentary group A Esquerda summarized his political manifesto in defense of “a Europe of peace against the genocide in Gaza and the illegal occupation of Palestine, feminist, green, anti-racism and anti-racism. -fascist, workers rights and social justice”.
Roberta Metsola cited Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Palestine as the two biggest foreign policy challenges facing the EU. “The European Parliament will continue to be the strong defender that Ukraine needs, and it will not fail to amplify the voice of humanity in the Middle East”, making every effort to find “sustainable peace”.
“Russia’s war of aggression against Ukrainian sovereignty remains at the top of our agenda. We will be asked to do more, and we must be ready to go beyond what is comfortable to protect peace”, emphasized the President of the European Parliament in the first intervention she made in the bike after the vote, in which she recalled the “experience. ” of the European Union in “divisions that are apparently impossible to heal.”
For Metsola, this is “the philosophy” that will guide the activities of the European Parliament regarding the conflict in the Middle East, in which priority will be given to “ending the intergenerational cycle of violence” and promoting the two states. solution, Israel and Palestine, to live side by side peacefully.
In a speech in which he addressed almost all the topics of the campaign – competitiveness, climate, digital transition, social pillar, migration and asylum, women’s rights and LGBTQI+ – Metsola emphasized the defense and security of Europe, to “expand the dreams of Fighting Europe. neighborhood dictators [da Europa]defeating hybrid threats and safeguarding the EU’s strategic independence.”
After an aggressive campaign, which led to an increase in the forces of the radical right in the European Parliament – which will be divided in this legislature into three distinct groups, Patriotism for Europe, Conservatives and Reformers of Europe, and Europe of Sovereign Nations, with 187 vote in total, one less than the largest EPP group – Metsola also wanted to talk about “polarization in societies [da UE]”, and to deny conflict and even violence in the political sphere.
“[Recuso as] easy answers that our communities share between us and them [e afastam e excluem as pessoas,] replacing hope with anger and hatred,” announced the President of the European Parliament. “We must overcome this zero thinking and understand that these easy policies do not offer real solutions”, he said.