Updated with PN statement 8.30 pm 

Prime Minister Robert Abela has pledged to back Roberta Metsola's bid for a second term as European Parliament president, saying it would be “inconsistent” of him if he failed to do so.

Metsola was unanimously confirmed as the EPP Group’s candidate in a closed meeting held on Wednesday.

Later in the same day, Opposition leader Bernard Grech challenged Abela to back Metsola’s nomination, calling on him to “set partisanship aside” and move away from the “campaign of fear in which he continuously attacked Metsola as a warmonger”.

Asked by Times of Malta whether he will be backing Metsola, Abela said that he “always supports Maltese people who go abroad to occupy a role”, adding that he will “once again let the national interest guide direct (his) decision”.

“I would be inconsistent – and I would be adopting the Opposition leader’s position – if I took a partisan stance and sidelined the national interest.”

Abela poured scorn on Grech’s challenge to back Metsola, describing it as “ironic”.

“In recent years and months, the PN has attacked every Maltese person who has gone to work in a European institution at every opportunity, maybe because they hold a different political opinion.”

Abela had also backed her initial bid

Abela had backed Metsola’s initial bid in 2021, at the time saying that “if I did not support her nomination, I would be doing exactly what she did to our country”.

Metsola was a frequent target of Labour’s criticism throughout the recent electoral campaign, with Abela and several MEP candidates accusing her of fomenting conflict by calling for an increase in EU defence and military spending. 

Metsola is the frontrunner to be named EP president once again after clinching the nomination of the EPP, the largest political family within the European Parliament.

She would be only the second MEP to serve in this role for two terms, after Germany’s Martin Schulz.

Abela forced into another U-turn - Grech 

In reaction to Abela’s statement Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said that it was now evident that Abela had to admit that his campaign of negativity against Metsola and the PN was simply fearmongering and was simply a tactic employed for political convenience. 

“After the people voted he had to make another u-turn and eat his words and accept that Roberta Metsola is the best candidate to be president of the European Parliament,” he said.