Nationalist Party (PN) MEP and Head of PN European Parliament (EP) delegation, Roberta Metsola, has been nominated for an MEP of the Year award, for a third-time.

Labour Party (PL) MEP Alex Agius Saliba, who was elected into power during the latest 2019 elections, has been shortlisted for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection award.

Organisers of the ‘MEP Awards’ referred to Dr Metsola’s efforts on protecting the rule of law and fighting corruption across Europe as factors behind her nomination. She was also cited for her role in pushing for justice and accountability after journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was brutally murdered in 2017.

The Parliament magazine, a Brussels-based publication focusing on European affairs are the organisers behind the ‘MEP Awards’. MEPs are nominated to a number of categories while fellow MEPs are eligible to vote.

PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba 

Dr Metsola has already won the MEP of the Year award for her work on justice and civil liberties in Europe in 2015 and 2016.

The Times of Malta quotes her as having described the nomination as an “honour,” calling the award “prestigious”.

“I am delighted to have been nominated, it has been a particularly hectic year both in terms of negotiating new legislation, standing for elections and in pushing forward reforms on a European level,” Dr Metsola said.

Mr Agius Saliba was shortlisted for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection award just days after Politico listed him as one of 20 MEPs to watch in 2020 for being honoured with the responsibility of drawing up the IMCO committee’s report on the Digital Services Act.

“This is a huge surprise and honour that as a newly elected MEP, I have been selected as one of the nominees for the MEP Awards,” he said on social media.

He recently lead negotiations on behalf of his political group, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, on a resolution on a common mobile phone charger, calling on the European Commission to develop a universal charger for mobile phones.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Brussels on 25th March 2020.