European Parliament president Roberta Metsola has made it to the 28-strong team in Politico’s class of 2024, an annual power ranking revolving around whether Europe’s moderates can drive back the fringes.

Explaining its choice of Metsola, Politico says the young Maltese politician took control of the European Parliament a month before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and just a week after the death of the institution’s former President David Sassoli.

They note that, at the time, questions were raised about Metsola's age and her stance on abortion but over the past two years she steered the institution through turbulent times and positioned herself as a credible candidate for a second term.

“Metsola came out of the gates strong, becoming the first president of an EU institution to visit Ukraine after Vladimir Putin launched his lethal invasion and strongly championing the war-struck country’s efforts to join the EU since.

“The trendsetting move earned her kudos in Kyiv, and seriously boosted Metsola’s public profile — not an easy achievement for a Maltese politician who has spent most of her working life in Brussels,” Politico says.

It says "dreamer" Metsola has also been on a mission to get young people to care about EU elections and “her rock-star reception in some quarters has driven rumors that she could be angling to switch from one top EU job to another - assuming Ursula von der Leyen doesn’t get a second term in the Commission presidency”.

Other people in "class" include "doer" European Commission president Ursula von der Leyon, and "disrupter" Viktor Orbán.

The list of people who made it to the Politico 28: Class of 2024 can be seen here.