17 January was undoubtedly a memorable day for Roberta Metsola, having won the European Parliament’s presidential election. She can now boast of being the highest-ranking politician in Maltese history and only the third woman to preside over the European Parliament.
What were the main reasons for her remarkable success and what does the future hold for her? Of course, ultimately it all depends on what her wishes and targets might eventually be. However, I think that there will be a number of developments and opportunities that she will find very difficult to ignore.
Whoever has followed Metsola’s political career so far should be able to recognise and discern a number of outstanding qualities and characteristics. What does she possess that has enabled her to become so extraordinarily successful? How has she managed to reach out to so many people, capture the minds of many, create a huge following and become a living legend and role model for other aspiring female leaders? Success is an iceberg. When we learn about extremely successful personalities, we tend to see the tip of the iceberg. What we may fail to see is the hard work behind their success. It is the same with Metsola. Gifted with exceptional communication skills, she knows how to connect with people. As a political figure, she is highly admired by her followers, Maltese and European, thanks to her ability to communicate in a way that people can relate to, and understand. For a time, she was on the verge of bringing meaning and purpose into the Nationalist Party, giving it a sense of unity.
Through ambition and determination together with endless energy, she opted, perhaps rightfully, with hindsight, to embark on a successful European institutional journey. Her sixth sense allowed for her to become a trendsetter, sensing what was needed and then creating the demand through persuasion and passion. Her ability of self-expression in a mature way through politics has enabled her to become hugely successful despite her humble beginnings as a lawyer specialising in European law. In her student years, Metsola formed part of SDM, KNZ (The National Youth Council) and MZPN (Moviment Zgħazagħ Partit Nazzjonalista), before being elected as Secretary-General of the European Democrat Students (EDS – the student branch of the EPP), as well as to posts within the European Youth Forum (YJF). In 2002, she was elected vice-president of the Youth Convention on the Future of Europe which paved the way to her being closely involved in the negotiation and drafting of the European Constitutional Treaty and, later, the Lisbon Treaty. Of course, just like any other successful individual, she was not shorn of controversy. We all remember how in October 2020, she proposed amendments to a resolution by LIBE on Bulgaria that sparked controversy. She insisted that the document includes information about protests in Bulgaria being funded by a gambling boss with 18 charges raised against him. After hundreds of protesters contacted her on social media and she was threatened with a lawsuit over slander and the spread of "fake news", Metsola blocked access to her social media from Bulgaria and withdrew the proposed amendment.
All creative people and leaders experience a few setbacks, but they do learn from them and are never ashamed of failing. I think that Metsola somehow falls into this category. Creativity is one of the essential characteristics of truly remarkable leaders. Creativity, the ability to come up with ideas, experiment, learn and produce through tapping into one’s inner potential, exists within Roberta. Her success as an avant-garde politician did not occur after one or two trials and errors. Nevertheless, she never gave up on her audacity but instead worked until she made a breakthrough. She confronted countless obstacles on her path towards success. In facing problems, she managed to develop resistance, persistence and a strong will.
Roberta is much of a visionary. She knows how to tap into her own mind, how to express her creativity and how to get out of her mind instead of remaining stuck with ideas only. She is able to take purposeful actions. Taking purposeful action requires a leader to know what to do, how to do it and how to communicate it in a consistent manner. Taking purposeful actions signifies the capability of first visualizing and strategizing how these purposeful actions should be taken. Women leaders come in all shapes and sizes, but one of the similarities you see in a lot of women leaders is the ability to work together at the decision-making table to get the best decision through collaboration. I believe that this is where Metsola can easily excel in the near future.
When you have more women in leadership roles you tend to see better policies for your communities and better family-friendly systems that are good for both women and men. Women are, unfortunately, still less likely than men to be associated with leadership, and the awareness of this stereotype may undermine women's performance in leadership tasks. Yet here we have a Metsola who has overcome this unwarranted obstacle. A political career is meant for one like her of high integrity and with additional skills to achieve results and find better ways of making life better for the people they represent.
With this background and baggage, one could envisage that one day in the not too distant future, Metsola might be allured into accepting to take the reins of the Nationalist Party and make it electable once more. This would be needed now more than ever for the sake of democracy’s survival in Malta. Should such a more than welcome event take place, Metsola might easily be accomplishing a double first in the history of local politics. She might ideally turn out to be not only a first Maltese female leader of a Maltese political party but also the first female prime minister of Malta. Now such an achievement would truly do us proud.
Dr Mark Said is an advocate