A group of 15 European Newsroom news agencies interviewed European Parliament President Roberta Metsola at the European Parliament on 26 September. With an eye on next year’s European elections, the enr spoke to Metsola about issues high on the agenda in Brussels, such as migration, EU enlargement in the Western Balkans and Ukraine, as well as the upcoming votes next year.
Metsola pointed out that the politically charged issue of migration was the top issue in 26 of the then 28 European Union member states during the 2019 elections. In the current negotiations on the reform of the EU’s migration policy, Metsola hoped for a rapid breakthrough in the discussions between member states, believing that “every effort must be made” to reach an agreement. Regarding migratory pressure on several EU member states, she highlighted the pressure on Italy, saying that the country “cannot be left alone.”
On EU enlargement, the president of the European Parliament said she hoped the EU would open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova by the end of the year and called for the hopes of these candidate countries not to be “disappointed”. Five countries in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) also have candidate status. Some of them have been negotiating their EU membership for more than a decade.
Metsola expects a tough campaign for the European elections in June 2024, but also for the next EU Parliament to have a pro-European, constructive majority. She said the fight against extremism would be a major challenge in the campaign for the 6-9 June elections. She added that she expected the political groups in the next Parliament to be even more fragmented than now and that they would need more time to define their priorities. She urged the groups to do this before 17 July 2024, when the new Parliament is set to hold its inaugural session.
Here is a selection of pictures from the interview (European Parliament – Daïna Le Lardic):
The following news agencies attended in person: AFP, ANSA, AMNA, Agerpres, BTA, Belga, dpa, EFE, Europa Press, HINA, Lusa, PAP, STA, TASR, Tanjug.
Based on the interview, the enr produced a joint Key Story which you can find here. Follow the European Newsroom on Social Media and check out the wires from the respective outlets online if you are interested in learning about each country’s specific take on the subject.