PN MEP Roberta Metsola has been touted as a potential candidate for the post of European Parliament President, Politico reported on Wednesday.

The news comes after European People’s Party (EPP) president Manfred Weber announced he would not run for the post – leaving an open race for it.

“The EPP is determined to claim the EU parliament presidency next January, since this was agreed with the S&D and Renew in 2019,” one EPP official told Politico.

If Weber does not run for the Parliament presidency, the official added, the EPP group will prioritize senior female candidates, including Roberta Metsola and Dutch MEP Esther de Lange, a vice president of the EPP group.

An official from the Renew Europe group said that most MEPs in his faction would also honour the 2019 deal and support an EPP candidate for the Parliament presidency.

The EPP is the group which the Nationalist Party is aligned with.

Metsola became the first ever Maltese MEP to be elected to the post of European Parliament Vice-President last November.