Updated 6.25 pm

Thomas Bajada confirmed that he voted in favour of Roberta Metsola, despite his fellow Labour MEPS refusing to reconfirm her as European Parliament President.

“I voted for Roberta even though she represents a different political party,” the Gozitan MEP said in reply to a question from Times of Malta. 

Metsola was overwhelmingly re-elected as EP president on Tuesday, securing a second term after fending off a last-minute challenge from Spanish MEP Irene Montero. 

Metsola won 562 votes of the 623 votes cast, a record-breaking 90% of lawmakers. She easily defeated her fival, who obtained 61 votes while the remaining votes were invalid.

However, Labour MEPs Alex Agius Saliba and Daniel Attard chose to abstain from the vote, with Agius Saliba saying he could not support Metsola "on matter of principle". 

Footage from inside the European Parliament showed a sullen-faced Agius Saliba remaining seated while the hall erupted into a standing ovation for Metsola after her victory was declared. 

Bajada said he wanted “to vote for a Maltese citizen like me because I believe that we need more Maltese voices in international institutions.”  

“This does not mean I agree with Roberta in everything, but this is a commitment I have taken to support all the Maltese and the Gozitans.  We must be the ones to work [and support] all the Maltese that come forward to take high office.”

Bajada also called upon Metsola “to promote the specific interests of our country.”  

“Our realities are different from those of other member states.  I would like Roberta to keep this in mind.”

Bajada also addressed a story that was published in Times of Malta which stated that PM Robert Abela wanted the three Labour MEPs to vote in favour of Metsola.

Bajada said, “The PM did not tell us how to vote but he left it up to us.”

Asked whether he would be supporting Ursula von der Leyen’s nomination for President of the European Commission, Bajada said “Let us wait until the negotiations between the political groups are concluded.”

Agius Saliba cites Gaza, reproductive rights and Maltese language for decision to abstain on Metsola

Photo: Karl Andrew Micallef

Meanwhile, Alex Agius Saliba identified Metsola’s “unconditional support to the genocide in Gaza”, her “lack of respect for the Maltese language in the EP”, her ambiguous position on reproductive rights, and “her disregard of Malta’s neutrality” as the major reasons for his abstention in the EP presidential election.

Agius Saliba fielded questions from Times of Malta during a press conference in Strasbourg.

“On Gaza Metsola spoke of a two-state solution but failed to call for an immediate ceasefire," he claimed.

He referred to a resolution on Ukraine approved on Wednesday by the European Parliament which calls for the removal of an exemption that had limited the use of European weapons on military targets in Russia.  “This is what we had been speaking about during the electoral campaign and some did not believe us.  But now we have been proved right.”

Agius Saliba said the S&D group in the EP voted in favour of the resolution but the Labour delegation decided otherwise because it was in Malta’s interest. “It would be interesting to see how the PN MEPs voted on this resolution”, he said. 

The Labour MEP recalled how in January 2022 he had voted for Metsola.  “Now she is tried and tested.  Several instances over the past two and half years precluded me from supporting her this time round.”

Agius Saliba said that once again at the start of this legislature, Metsola had failed to address issues related to the use of the Maltese language in the committees of the European Parliament. 

“This is an injustice.  As a Maltese MEP, I have fewer rights than my German colleague in the same committee and this is because Metsola and her bureau have agreed not to apply a derogation in favour of the Maltese language.”

On the issue of reproductive rights, Agius Saliba said that Metsola has been portraying one image in Malta and another in the European Parliament. 

“This is not a personality contest.  If anything, this shows that she lacks political backbone.”

Agius Saliba also explained he could never have voted for Irene Montero, the candidate fielded by The Left, because she was running against a Maltese candidate. 

He also argued it would have been hypocritical of him to vote for a candidate who stands for abortion. 

Agius Saliba also refrained from giving away how he would be voting in Thursday’s vote for President of the European Commission, stating that he is waiting for the political negotiations between the political groups to be concluded.

Daniel Attard. Photo: Karl Andrew Micallef

Attard: “I chose to send a message” 

Daniel Attard told Times of Malta that his abstention in the Metsola vote on Tuesday morning was consistent and coherent with his pre-electoral position.

“This was my first test and I chose to send a message.  Abstention was the best choice for me to represent all the constituents who chose to trust and vote for me.” 

During the electoral campaign, Attard criticised Metsola for her “unconditional support to Israel in its war with Gaza.”

“I never heard Metsola condemn Israel for not respecting human rights and for the genocide that is happening in Gaza.”

When asked whether this stance will also apply to Ursula von der Leyen, who accompanied Metsola to Israel in October 2023, Attard said that “the circumstances are different”. 

Von der Leyen has since “made clearer her position on Gaza,” he said. 

“Having said that, I will wait until the political groups pronounce themselves and finalise their negotiations on von der Leyen’s candidacy before taking a decision on how to cast my vote.”

Attard insisted that people are increasingly becoming disillusioned with politics because of inconsistent politicians who say one thing and then change their position soon after.

In an interview with Times of Malta, after she was elected, Metsola said Agius Saliba and Daniel Attard’s abstentions “show the lack of cohesion and the complete division in the Labour Party today”

Von der Leyen faces the MEPs tomorrow morning and needs an absolute majority to be returned to office.

Last June, the European Council, which is made up of 27 Heads of State and Governments and includes PM Robert Abela, approved von der Leyen’s candidacy.