On Monday evening we had the pleasure of welcoming our honored guest Roberta Metsola, acting president of the European Parliament, to one of our KAS Events on the premises of our KAS European Office. Ms. Metsola delivered an inspiring speech about the challenges of the European Parliament’s second legislative term and her plans to approach them, which was followed by questions of the participants. Naturally, the war in Ukraine dominated the exchange with Ms. Metsola who was the first European official to visit Kyiv after the outbreak of the war. Moreover, she talked about the opportunities that these challenging circumstances provide, the Conference on the Future of Europe and its implications for the work of the European Parliament, and the new-found unity among the EU-27 as well as how to maintain it.

We want to express our extraordinary gratitude to Ms. Metsola for being our dear guest, enlightening us with detailed insights about the European Parliament’s work and for being open to discuss participant’s questions. We would also like to thank all guests for attending the event and making it to a truly successful evening. 

In this episode of KAScuts, we had the honor of interviewing Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament. We talked to her about the biggest challenges the EU is facing at the moment and the role of the European Parliament in addressing these challenges. With regard to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Metsola explained that the EU and the European Parliament firmly stood up to preserve “peace, democracy, and the protection of the rule of law” by showing much solidarity, for instance by providing financial and logistical assistance to Ukraine. Other challenges, according to Metsola, are the European Green Deal and climate ambitions which closely relate to discussions about energy security, food security and migration. She emphasized that proper legislation and strong political will of the EU will be needed to tackle these issues.