Roberta Metsola has been officially nominated as the EPP Group’s candidate for President of the European Parliament.

Metsola was the group’s unanimous choice and obtained 100% of votes cast by EPP MEPs in a closed meeting, sources said.

The vote confirms Metsola’s assertion, made last week in a Times of Malta interview, that she had secured enough support to be the grouping’s nominee.

 The EPP, or European People’s Party, is the European Parliament’s largest political grouping, with 188 elected MEPs. It emerged even stronger from this month’s EU-wide European Parliament elections, increasing its vote share while seeing that of its main rivals, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, fall.

Metsola spoke with pride following the vote.

“Running to be your candidate for re-election as President of the European Parliament is a responsibility that I take seriously; that I understand is a decision that weighs heavily on all of us,” she told EPP MEPs.

“I am proud to be a politician. I am proud to be an unashamedly pro-European, MEP. I am incredibly proud to represent you as President. For a girl who grew up on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, it is the privilege of a lifetime.”

Having secured her grouping’s backing, Metsola must now win the backing of a majority of MEPs in the European Parliament to secure a second term as president.

If she succeeds, she will become only the second MEP in history to serve as EP president for two terms, and the first woman to do so.

Metsola was first elected EP President in January 2022, following the shock death of the previous president, Davide Sassoli. Within weeks of assuming the key role, Europe was plunged into crisis as Russia invaded Ukraine. 

The European Parliament faced further trouble later that year when a Belgian police investigation revealed indications that the governments of Qatar, Morocco and Mauritania had funnelled cash to MEPs, lobbyists and their families.  

That scandal, dubbed Qatargate, prompted Metsola to suspend all European Parliament work with Qatar. In September 2023 the European Parliament introduced new codes of conduct for MEPs. 

Metsola was reelected as an MEP in this month's elections, winning more votes than any other candidate in Maltese MEP electoral history.