European Parliament President Roberta Metsola hinted Wednesday she will remain in her current post as pressure mounts for her to take the reins of the Maltese Nationalist Party.
“I have a responsibility here,” Metsola told POLITICO when asked whether she would take up the domestic job, her first comments since Nationalist Party’s former leader Bernard Grech unexpectedly resigned Tuesday, opening the door for a leadership race.
The new center-right leader will need to face off against Prime Minister Robert Abela, attempting to wrest the top job away from the center-left Labour Party, which has been plagued by corruption scandals.
Figures within the Nationalist Party are increasingly pointing to Metsola, Malta’s most famous politician, as the consensus choice to lead the opposition.
In an outgoing interview on national TV, Grech suggested he expected Metsola to “step forward,” even if the timing is not perfect as she is just 10 months into her second term as European Parliament president.
“When you want to do good for the country … there is no time. It’s not when it suits you best. But when it suits your country best in an altruistic way,” Grech said.
Metsola has served as the president of the European Parliament since 2022, and was reelected in 2024 with the widest cross-party majority in history. Many in her own center-right European People’s Party — of which the Nationalist Party is a member — have asked her to stay in her job.
“We understand that there are voices asking for Roberta Metsola to fill the leadership role in Malta, that is of course up to her and her Party, but I know how committed she is as President of the European Parliament and understand that for a country like Malta having their nation in this leadership position is critical and it is critical for Europe,” Manfred Weber, president of the EPP, told POLITICO.
“So, on a personal level, we are very proud of everything that she has achieved, but there is much yet to do with her as President in these critical times as we build Europe into a stronger and more prosperous Union,” he added.
The Maltese Nationalist Party executive committee will meet on Wednesday evening to start the leadership selection process.
This story has been updated.
The post Roberta Metsola hints she’ll stay in Brussels, not return to Maltese politics appeared first on Politico.
