“Congregations to Roberta Metsola on her election as President of the European Parliament today. We wish her successful tenure and are eager to extend our cooperation in the future,” Moldova’s President Maia Sandu posted on Tweeter, being quoted by IPN.

Maltese center-right MEP Roberta Metsola was elected President of the European Parliament on Tuesday, January 18, when the politician turned 43. She won 458 votes in the first round of balloting, out of 690 cast in the remote secret vote, according to Agerpres.

Roberta Metsola is the youngest-ever President of the European Parliament, winning a comfortable majority to serve a two-and-a-half-year term. She is married and has four children.

“With humbleness, I feel honored by this responsibility with which you are entrusting me,” Metsola told MEPs in her inaugural speech from the President’s seat. “I promise you that I will work and do my utmost to work on behalf of this Parliament and for the benefit of all EU citizens.”

Born in Malta in 1979, Roberta Metsola who has been an MEP since 2013, is the youngest EP President ever elected. She became First Vice-President in November 2020, and was Parliament’s acting President after President Sassoli passed away on January 11. She is the third female President of the European Parliament, after Simone Veil (1979-1982) and Nicole Fontaine (1999-2002).