Updated December 15

European Parliament president David Sassoli will not be seeking a second term, with that decision paving the way for Maltese MEP Roberta Metsola to be elected to the post. 

Politico, citing Sassoli's spokesperson, said that the incumbent president had informed Socialist and Democrat MEPs of his decision during a meeting.

“I don’t want to destroy the European front,"  Sassoli said, referring to a previous agreement between the S&D and European People's Party for the presidency to alternate between them.

"For that reason, I will not be available.”

Sassoli became president in 2019. Photo: EU media service

Spanish news outlet El Diario reported that S&D president Iratxe García Perez, a Spanish MEP, had also told MEPs that the grouping would not be seeking to field a candidate in the January 17 race to the EU presidency. 

It said S&D attempts at finding a common candidate that also earned the backing of Greens and Liberals had faltered, and that the EP grouping was inclined to focus its energies elsewhere.  

Path cleared for Metsola

The S&D decision to steer clear of the race means a return to an agreement between them and the European People's Party, of which Metsola forms part, for the presidency to alternate. 

A Sassoli re-election candidacy posed the biggest obstacle to Metsola's chances to become European Parliament president. 

Metsola was elected as the EPP's candidate for the presidency on November 24, comfortably beating two other candidates for the nomination, Austrian Othmar Karas and Dutch Esther de Lange.

Although the EPP is the European Parliament's largest grouping, with 187 seats, Metsola will also need to win the backing of MEPs from other groupings if she is to become European Parliament president. 

Metsola is now the clear frontrunner for the post. Photo: European Parliament

The S&D (147 seats) is the parliament's second-largest grouping and its backing for Metsola will now hinge on negotiations over legislative priorities and other appointments.

Metsola should be able to bank on the backing of Liberal MEPS (98 seats) and will be hoping to secure the backing of parliament's Greens (73 seats).

She will face competition from Kosma Złotowski, a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists grouping, and Sira Rego, who forms part of the European Left.

Both those groupings, however, have far less leverage than Metsola's EPP. 

The winner will need to secure a simple majority among the EP's 705 MEPs.   

EPP insider: 'Sassoli is an honourable man'

An EPP insider told Times of Malta that while news of Sassoli pulling out of the presidency race was a "big step" for Metsola's candidacy, it was not unexpected.

"Sassoli is an honourable man, and we expected him to honour the deal we had in place for the presidency to alternate," the insider said. 

Metsola has spent the past weeks in one-on-one meetings with MEPs, campaigning with all those willing to listen.  

"Her priorities, if elected, are to modernise the parliament and streamline legislative processes, make the European Parliament more diverse, and find ways of making it more influential and relevant," the EPP insider said, noting that the parliament currently does not have the power to investigate or summon witnesses to testify.  

The upcoming presidential term will also coincide with the tail end of the Conference on the Future of Europe, and Metsola will also be focused on ensuring "concrete outcomes" emerge from that, the insider added. 

If Metsola wins the European Parliament election on January 18, she will be the highest-ranking politician in Maltese history and the first woman to be elected as EU parliament president in over 20 years.

She already made history when she was elected first vice-president of the European Parliament, the most senior role ever occupied by a Maltese.