Roberta Metzola new President of the European Parliament

The European Parliament in Strasbourg elected the successor of the late David Sassoli at noon, with the MEP of the European People's Party from Malta, Roberta Metzola being the favorite.

Metzola is the first woman to hold the highest office in the European Parliament in 20 years - after France's Nicole Fontaine. is also the newest. Roberta Metzol turns 43 today.

"I first became involved in politics while studying at university." I first became involved as a student on campus - where a very fundamental question arose: Do you want your country to join the European Union or should it stay out? "She says. Roberta Metzola.

He sided with the side that was in favor of joining the European Union. In 2003, its homeland, Malta, chose to join the EU by a narrow majority.

"For the Maltese, the election of Roberta Metzola as President of the European Parliament would be the culmination of her political career but also a boost to the image of her country," says Maltese blogger and journalist Manuel Delia. "Malta has a very bad reputation. "In recent years, as a country where journalists are being murdered and black money laundering is being promoted," said Manuel Delia.

Roberta Metzola is an EU child in Brussels. After graduating with a law degree in Malta - then named Tendesco Trikas - she went to the College of Europe in Belgium, became the General Secretary of the European People's Party student organization and worked in the Brussels bureaucracy. In 2013, Metzola became a member of the European Parliament, with her country's Nationalist Party. Four years later, the conservative politician came to the fore when she called for more light to be shed on the brutal murder of her compatriot journalist Daphne Caruana Galicio: "Our message today is clear: Find those responsible for the murder of N to happen, those who tried to cover it up must be brought to justice. " No one should go unpunished and "something like this should happen again" should be prevented.

Mitzola, says blogger Manuel Delia, was close to the family of the unfortunate Daphne and helped advance the investigation. It has become very popular in Malta: "The European Parliament was probably the first international body to get involved." Metzola has been involved in a number of pressures from EU delegations in Malta. Eventually, the campaign led to the resignation of then-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Metsola identifies herself politically as a Christian Democrat, is considered smart and confident. In addition to Daphne's case, she has been involved in immigration and civil rights issues in Brussels: She has been in favor of more legal access to the EU, but she also maintains a strong line against illegal immigration. Liberal but also conservative, Metsola claims more rights for gays, bisexuals and trans people, but is against abortion.

The MEP also has Europe at home: she is married to Finnish Uno Metzola, who was also a member of the European People's Party and now works in Brussels for a lobby organization for the cruise industry. They have four sons. "I try to make Maltese feel like Finns," says Metsola, revealing: "In the kitchen, my husband is very good - and when he cooks, there are Finnish things."