Youth and Politics, with Roberta Metsola

It’s not that simple

How important is the European Union? What is its role in today’s world? Is it still too distant from European citizens? How can it better reach out to young people? To answer these questions, José Maria Pimentel interviews the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation.

As President of the European Parliament (EP), Roberta Metsola is also the Head of the Partit Nazzjonalista (PN) Delegation, one of the political forces within the European People’s Party Group in the European Parliament.

A lawyer by profession, specializing in European law and politics, Roberta graduated in 2003, the same year that her country Malta, decided to join the European Union. She was first elected as an MEP for Malta and Gozo in 2013, being re-elected in 2014 and 2019 and becoming in this way, one of the first Maltese women elected to the EP.

In 2020, Metsola was elected as the First Vice-President of the European Parliament, during this time, she was responsible for the EP's relations with national parliaments and for the Parliament's participation in the interreligious and non-confessional dialogue. On 18th January 2022 Roberta Metsola was elected President of the European Parliament, becoming the youngest ever person to occupy this role.

In this episode, Metsola discusses her efforts to talk with young people in every country she visits, to persuade them to engage with politics and the European Union (EU). She addresses the perception that “Brussels is too far away” and what can be done to change that. Metsola also explains how much Malta becoming a member of the EU changed her country for the better. She then talks about her term as President of the EP and the many crises the EU has had to face during that time. Finally, Metsola considers the specific role of the EP within the EU’s institutional framework, and its impact on people’s lives, in a conversation well worth listening to.
More on this topic

• Roberta Metsola’s State of Europe Speech - 9th November 2023
• Roberta Metsola debating the “Future of Europe” with Paulo Rangel and Guy Verhofstadt
• Roberta Metsola’s speech at the World Leaders Forum at Columbia University - 18th September 2023

Other references in Portuguese

• Essay of the Foundation “O Futuro da União Europeia”, by Eugénia da Conceição
• Essay of the Foundation “Eleições na União Europeia”, by Nuno Sampaio
• “Não se abstenha: três razões e mais uma para votar nas eleições europeias”, an essay by Nuno Sampaio
• Essay of the Foundation “A Democracia na Europa”, by Catherine Moury
• “Portugal nas decisões europeias”, a study coordinated by Alexander Trechsel and Richard Rose for the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation
• “Os futuros da Europa”, an essay by Teresa de Sousa
• “Afinal que Europa é que queremos?”, a debate held by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation, with Carlos Moedas, Elisa Ferreira, Eugénia da Conceição and Lívia Franco