Who is Roberta Metsola, the anti-abortion Maltese, elected to head the European Parliament?

“Have faith in the citizens, have faith in Europe”. Behind a unifying slogan, a controversial candidacy. The first woman to hold the post of Vice-President of the European Parliament since October 2020, Maltese MEP Roberta Metsola was running for the post of President of the Strasbourg-based institution. Since the death of the Italian David Sassoli, at the age of 65, on January 11, she had already occupied the interim presidency and was a favorite to succeed him. On Tuesday, she was elected head of the European Parliament.

At 43, the Maltese becomes, on the very day of her birthday, the youngest president of the European Parliament, and this despite her anti-abortion positions of the elected, from the EPP group, the conservatives of the European People’s Party.

Roberta Metsola was born on January 18, 1979 in Malta. Graduated from the University of Malta and the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium. On her website, she says her interest in politics dates back to the referendum on Malta’s entry into the European Union in 2003. “My career is out of the ordinary. I come from a family where no one was involved in politics”, assures this mother of four, married to a Finn, in a clip published by the EPP.

In 2004, then aged 25, she ran for the first time in the European elections, but was not elected. Until 2012, she worked in the Permanent Representation of Malta to the Union. A lawyer by profession, and a specialist in European politics and law, she was elected MEP in 2013. She then became one of the first Maltese elected representatives sitting in Strasbourg and was largely re-elected the following year. According to the Bruegel think tank, she has notably worked on issues of justice and civil liberties, but also the fight against terrorism.

A member of the conservative EPP group, she nevertheless defends rather progressive positions, in particular on LBGTQ+ rights. “As a woman, I know how important it is to have allies in your struggles. (…) Europe is a zone of freedom”, she notably declared in December, according to Elle. On the migration issue, she also assumes progressive positions, contrasting with her group. “She has relatively clear borders with the extreme right, which is not always the case in her political family”, deciphers the rebellious MEP Manon Aubry, in the columns of the World.

But his anti-abortion positions – Malta is one of the last EU countries to completely ban abortion – are uncomfortable and divisive. Roberta Metsola “is consensual, except with the subject that makes us talk about it”, summarizes a spokesperson for the Renew group toShe. In September 2021, she thus abstained on a resolution calling for the criminalization of violence against women, recalls The world.

And even if the European Parliament has no competence in matters of the right to abortion, the symbol remains strong. Because the Maltese becomes the third woman to have led the European Parliament, after the French Simone Veil (1979-1982) and Nicole Fontaine (1999-2002).

“An anti-abortion at its head is a terrible symbol forty-two years after Simone Veil and while thousands of Polish women have been marching in the streets for more than a year to defend the right to dispose of their bodies”, regretted Manon Aubry, quoted by The world. Aware of the reservations she has aroused on this issue, Roberta Metsola had assured that in the event of an election, her “duty will be to represent the position of Parliament”, including sexual and reproductive rights.