Well-prepared, the Christian Democrat candidate for the Presidency of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola from Malta, made a favourable impression on the S&D group’s MEPs, who heard her on Wednesday 12 January for more than two hours, according to several parliamentary sources interviewed by EUROPE. But the support of the S&D group is not yet secured.
Expected to address social issues, including women’s rights, Ms Metsola, who comes from the last EU Member State that criminalises abortion, referred to a protocol in the European Treaty that recognises Malta’s special position in this area. But the candidate stressed that such a situation would not prevent her, as President, from defending the Parliament’s position in favour of women’s freedom of choice, even during her official trips to Poland or Malta.
Ms Metsola also took a clear stand in favour of the ‘Simone Veil Pact’ for gender equality, named after the former European Parliament President who pushed through the reform legalising abortion in France when she was a minister. Promoted by the Renew Europe group, this pact aims to take stock of the best standards and practices in Europe in the field of women’s rights and to invite the Member States that adhere to it to harmonise their legislation upwards (see EUROPE 12398/11). Ms Metsola also spoke wanting to lead a network of young European women leaders who would come up with ideas on how to help women reach leadership positions in their countries (see EUROPE 12849/14).
Within the Parliament, the Christian Democrat said that she intends to introduce a code of conduct on gender equality. She said she would also like to establish parity for speaking time. Some MEPs pointed out to her that only two women hold a position of Director General at the European institution.
Several Social Democrat MEPs praised Ms Metsola’s work in the Committee on Civil Liberties, which was able to go beyond the positions of her political family and take up progressive ideas. One of them reportedly urged her ‘not to do Tajani’.
When he was the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani (EPP, Italy) had supported keeping members of Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party in the EPP group (see EUROPE 122216/1).
Other voices called on Ms Metsola to remain firm on issues related to respect for the Rule of law, a sine qua non for possible social democratic support. On the budgetary and economic front, they called for a reform of the European economic governance framework in order to promote investment in climate and digital transitions, as well as the continuation of the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan. Furthermore, the Parliament will have to take the lead in implementing the recommendations of the Conference on the Future of Europe which would involve institutional reform, advocate transnational lists in the 2024 European elections, grant the Parliament a right of initiative and a right of enquiry in the Parliament.
On all these elements, the Maltese leader said she is ready to support the position that the Parliament will adopt. She also promised to continue Mr Sassoli’s legacy of internal European Parliament reforms aimed at drawing lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic (see EUROPE 12789/23).
In addition, several MEPs raised the issue of a rebalancing of senior positions within the Parliament in favour of the social democratic family. This could involve the appointment of a new Secretary General, while the post of Deputy Secretary General could go to the Greens/EFA group.
“She was well prepared, dynamic. We can see that she knows the house very well”, commented a parliamentary source. “She is a friendly, human person”, said one MEP.
But this will not be enough to convince some MEPs, particularly French ones, who do not want a woman opposed to abortion to take the helm after Simone Veil.
The S&D group will meet on Monday 17 January in Strasbourg to discuss and possibly adopt a common position on the election scheduled for the following day. According to some sources, a Social Democrat candidacy has not been completely abandoned, with negotiations still taking place between the Chair of the Social Democrat group, Iratxe García Pérez from Spain, and her Christian Democrat counterpart, Manfred Weber from Germany. At the end of the day, she announced that her group was calling for a plenary debate on sexual and reproductive rights.
But the untimely death of European Parliament President David Sassoli has changed the political sequence (see EUROPE 12866/1). The European Parliament’s main leaders will be present in Rome at Mr Sassoli’s funeral this weekend.
Five candidates for the vice-presidency. Next week in Strasbourg, MEPs will elect their president for the second half of the 2019-2024 legislature as well as vice-presidents and quaestors.
On Wednesday, the S&D group nominated five candidates for vice-president - Portugal’s Pedro Silva Pereira, Germany’s Katarina Barley, Greece’s Eva Kaili, Italy’s Pina Picierno, Austria’s Evelyn Regner - as well as Slovakia’s Monika Beňová as a candidate for quaestor. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)