PM deeply saddened by news of EU parliament president’s death

The Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, on Tuesday, received with “deep sadness” the news of the death of the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, “a friend”, with whom he had worked closely over the last two years.

“It is with deep sadness that I regret the death of David Sassoli. A friend with whom I had the privilege of working very closely over the last two years,” António Costa wrote on the social network Twitter.

The President of the European Parliament died today at the age of 65 after more than two weeks in a hospital in Italy due to a dysfunction of his immune system.

Tweet from @antoniocostapm

David Sassoli contracted pneumonia in September 2021, which forced him to receive hospital treatment in Strasbourg, France, and although he was discharged from hospital a week later, he continued his recovery in Italy and was absent from Parliament’s plenary sessions for over two months, returning later in the year.

Next week, at the first plenary session of the year, Parliament is due to elect a president of the assembly, something that was already planned halfway through the current term, and unrelated to Sassoli’s state of health.

Maltese Roberta Metsola of the European People’s Party (EEP) is the favourite to succeed the Italian Socialist leader, who took office in the summer of 2019.