The Bishops of the European Union congratulated Roberta Metsola, elected Tuesday, January 18, 2022, President of the European Parliament.
In a press release, the President of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich expressed, in the name of all the Bishops, their “sincere congratulations to Roberta Metsola for her election as President of the European Parliament.”
The Prelate pointed out that “we have already had the opportunity to work with her and recognize her qualities: she is a brilliant person that, without a doubt, will be able to carry out excellently this important institutional role.”
Finally, he said they hope to be able to continue “collaborating for the common good, bringing public institutions close to European citizens, making young people protagonists of European politics and promoting policies focused on the person, the family and the community.”
Roberta Metsola
According to Roberta Metsola’s European Parliament’s Webpage, she was born on January 18, 1979, the daughter of Rita and Geoffrey and is the eldest of three children. She grew up in the coastal city of Gżira, in Malta. Roberta married Finn Ukko Metsola on October 1, 2005. They are the parents of four children: Luca, Alec, Marc and Kristian. The eldest is now an adolescent and the youngest is four years old.
Roberta attributes the referendum on Malta’s adhesion to the European Union as the catalyst of her activism. In 2002 she was appointed Secretary-General of the European Democratic Students Organization, an office she held while studying for a doctorate in Law at the University of Malta. She graduated in 2003, the same year that Malta decided to enter the European Union. She has always defended the politics of moderation in face of extremism, politics based on truth, justice and correction, politics based on facts and not identities.”
She broadened her studies on European Law in Bruges’ College of Europe. This was added to an important milestone in her political career: her first electoral campaign. At 25, while still studying, Roberta ran in Malta’s first elections to the European Parliament. She lost. She was elected for the first time as Euro-Deputy for Malta and Gozo in 2013, being re-elected in 2014 and 2019. Roberta is also head of the Delegation of the Partit Nazzjonalista (PN) within the Group of the European Popular Party in the European Parliament. She is a lawyer by profession, specializing in European Law and Politics.
