EU's top legislature gets third female chief

For Maltese politician Roberta Metsola, being elected as president of the European Parliament on Tuesday could not have been better timed. It was also her 43rd birthday.

Metsola won 458 of the 616 votes cast in the 705-seat legislature plenary meeting in Strasbourg, France. She had been acting president since the death of David Sassoli, an Italian politician and member of the center-left Socialists & Democrats party, on Jan 11.

Metsola had been first vice-president of the Parliament since November 2020.

A member of the center-right European People's Party, Metsola was among four candidates vying for the job. The others were Spain's Sira Rego of the United Left party, Poland's Kosma Zlotowski of the European Conservatives and Reformists party, and Sweden's Alice Bah Kuhnke of the Green party. Zlotowski dropped out before ballots were cast.

"It's an honor for our country. It's an honor for such a small country....This chamber will be led by a Maltese woman. I think this should make us all proud," she told a news conference after her election.

Metsola is the youngest president in the history of the Parliament, and the third woman to take up the position after France's Nicole Fontaine and Simone Veil.

"I think it should be a testament of the hard work since we joined the European Union," said Metsola, who campaigned for Malta to join the EU in her youth and became a Member of the European Parliament in 2013.

In remarks to fellow Parliament members on Tuesday, she pledged to do her "utmost to work on behalf of this Parliament and for the benefit of all EU citizens".

"We must fight back against the anti-EU narrative that takes hold so easily and so quickly," she said.

"The next part of the mandate will see a window of opportunity to make our Parliament more modern, more effective and more efficient."

EU leaders offered her their congratulations.

"The European Parliament is the beating heart of our European democracy. Looking forward to cooperating with you, dear Roberta," European Council President Charles Michel wrote in a tweet.

"As the 3rd woman to head this noble house, your hard work &determination are an inspiration to us all," wrote European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a tweet.

"We'll work closely together for the EU's recovery and a green, digital& bright European future."

Von der Leyen, who also belongs to the EPP, was in isolation in Brussels and could not attend the Parliament plenary session as planned, after her driver tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday.