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David Sassoli would have liked to remain President of the European Parliament for more than half of the legislative term – but this is unlikely to happen after the Socialists in the EP turned him down. Now all eyes are on EPP candidate Roberta Metsola. With her, after 20 years, a woman could once again be at the head of the institution. However, Metsola has not exactly made a name for herself as a fighter for women’s rights – the Maltese politician is an avowed opponent of abortion. This is causing unease not only among French MEPs, as Jasmin Kohl reports from Brussels.
European policy, the Green Deal, and digitization: Who are the most important people who will shape these fields in the new German federal government? To keep you up to date, we are continuously working on an overview of the management level of the ministries. We add new names as soon as we hear about them. Are you faster? Then we would be pleased to hear from you.
Sarah Schaefer
Feature
Metsola: an anti-abortionist as president of the European Parliament?
The Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament have declared themselves against a new candidacy of the current President of the Parliament, David Sassoli, and do not want to put forward another candidate of their own for the election, which is due to take place during the plenary session in mid-January.
With this, they are now sticking to the agreement with the EPP group, according to which the helm of the Chamber of Deputies was to be handed over from the S&D group to the EPP in the middle of the term. The background of the decision is that Sassoli’s candidature was supported neither by the Greens/EFA nor by Renew and thus had no chance for a majority. Openly recognizable talk about it currently no one in parliament wants. “That would not have given him a nice exit,” it says to Europe.Table.
With neither the Greens/EFA nor Renew presenting their own opposing candidate, all eyes are on Maltese Roberta Metsola, who is entering the race for the EPP (Europe.Table reported). The 42-year-old has been in the European Parliament since 2013 and is currently Vice-President. With her, the institution would have a woman at the helm for the first time in 20 years – from 1999 to 2002, the French politician Nicole Fontaine was the last parliamentary president. This argument could convince the Greens in the European Parliament. They turned their backs on Sassoli above all because his “old white man” characteristics don’t exactly stand for the desired change.
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