Evarist Bartolo Hits Back At Metsola: ‘You’re Not As Indispensable As You Think’
Evarist Bartolo has taken aim at Roberta Metsola’s decision to stay on as President of the European Parliament instead of returning to Malta to lead the Nationalist Party, accusing her of overstating her global importance and ignoring the limits of her role in EU foreign policy.
Quoting Metsola’s statement almost in full, the former Foreign Minister began his Facebook post by highlighting the justification she gave for not contesting the PN leadership.
“Metsola wants to give the impression that she is indispensable at the moment,” he wrote. “That the world and the European Union cannot do without her,” pointing to her reference to “global responsibilities” and “unprecedented challenges” such as military escalations.
But Bartolo questioned whether that image matches reality.
“The European Parliament has a limited role in the decisions taken by the European Union in its international policy,” he said, citing the EU’s own official documentation describing its foreign policy role as mostly symbolic. “This can be seen in the facts,” he continued, referencing a recent high-level summit in Paris on 27 March, where Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa were present—but not Metsola.
For Bartolo, the issue is not just about Metsola’s decision to stay on, but the broader absence of serious European diplomacy in today’s global crises—from Gaza to Ukraine to Iran. “The leadership of the European Union, not only of the European Parliament, limited themselves to sticking to one side against the other,” he wrote. “They did not take any serious initiatives of diplomacy and mediation to prevent these wars, stop them once they began, or address what caused them.”
Instead, he argued, the EU—and Metsola personally—have become complicit in injustice. “Worse still, the European Union, including the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, is complicit in Israel’s genocide against Gaza,” he wrote. “They talk nicely about human rights and international law, but support Israel every time it violates them.”
Bartolo ended with a blunt reminder: “Cemeteries are full of people who thought they were indispensable and that the world would not have passed without them,” he wrote, quoting Charles de Gaulle. “No one is indispensable in the world. The world goes on even when people who think they are so important are gone.”
Metsola, who for years has been floated as a future PN leader, entered into talks with the party’s leadership this week following Bernard Grech’s resignation. At one point, a scenario was reportedly being considered where Metsola would become party leader without serving as Opposition leader, allowing her to remain in Brussels until the end of her term.
But as political and legal realities set in, the plan appears to have been dropped. On Friday, Metsola issued a statement confirming she would not be entering the leadership race.
“With a sense of responsibility, this is a role I cannot abandon,” she said of her EP presidency. “I am doing this with loyalty to my country, to those who voted for me, and to my colleagues.”
While acknowledging the personal appeal of leading the PN and eventually becoming Prime Minister, Metsola said she could not divide her focus at such a critical time for Europe. “My commitment and focus must remain unwavering,” she said, insisting the decision was based on duty, not ambition.
She pledged her full support to the next PN leader, while also warning that Labour would likely use her decision to “distort” and “manipulate” her motives.
Bartolo wasted no time doing just that—but his criticism wasn’t personal. His argument was bigger than Metsola: that the EU has talked up its values while failing to act on them, and that no official—no matter how high-ranking or popular—should be under any illusion that they are irreplaceable.
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