He European Parliament This Thursday hosted the final morning of the plenary session in the 2019-2024 legislature, where the last legislative fringes have shared space with goodbyes, hugs from those who did not know if they would return to meet in the hallways and wish them good luck in the electoral campaign. The european elections They are celebrated between June 6 and 9 in all the countries of the bloc; in Spain, they take place on Sunday, June 9.

Among red flowers by the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution in Portugal, the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, opened the last voting session by ensuring that this institution can look back “with the satisfaction of knowing that it has contributed to writing the history of Europe.” After wishing “the best” to the MEPs who do not run again for the elections and “strength, patience and success” to those who now face the campaignMetsola singled out only two people: the former president of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek, who does not aspire to repeat after twenty years as an MEP, and an official who is retiring after 33 years organizing voting sessions.

And yes This European Parliament started in 2019 With more than half of the MEPs taking their seats, with a greater female presence and more youth, it is now again very difficult to predict who among those who said goodbye today between hugs and kisses will see each other again in July. Regardless of whether it has been the first term or one who is already a veteran of saying goodbye, these days there has been a succession of MEPs who used their interventions in debates or points of order to say goodbye to the chamber which they have attended religiously every month for the last five years.

“This is not a point of order, it is a point of gratitude“, began the leader of the Greens, Philippe Lamberts, holding back tears after 15 years dedicated to parliamentary activity with “pride and sense of duty.” His fellow seats, he said, have been “the best.” “Although not always we have agreed, all our debates have been worthy of a vibrant democracy“, he said, while inviting the entire chamber to his farewell in a well-known Strasbourg bar.

Other farewells have been more colorful, such as that of the French environmentalist François Thiollet, who this morning said dedicated a song to the rest of the chamberor that of the Slovak far-right Miroslav Radačovský, who marked the most surreal moment of the day on Wednesday by releasing a white dove to ask for peace.

Several Spanish MEPs spoke this Thursday of “nerves” when arriving at their seats: Laura Ballarín (PSOE), who still does not know where she will be on the socialist list and whether she will be able to repeat, says that after many years working in the European parliamentary sphere, she faces uncertainty with the tranquility of that from one place or another will continue working for European democracy. “Strategic calm and patience,” she says. Ana Miranda (BNG) tells with amusement how in recent weeks deputies who are not usually seen have appeared in plenary sessions and committees looking for a place in the lists of their partiesbut she also gets serious to reflect on “what the future holds” for this institution in the face of the advance of the extreme right.

Among those who know for sure that they will not repeat is the PNV MEP Izaskun Bilbao, who finds it “very difficult not to get emotional” in her farewell after 15 years as an MEP. “I leave with the satisfaction of a job in which I have given everything, in which I have felt affection and professionalism, a constructive work between different people that I believe is what politics has to recover today,” he emphasizes.

“Final point to the legislature and end to my career in the European Parliament. It is bittersweet, it has been a very long stage of my life, 22 years in total. Many things have happened and now a new stage begins. Always within politics, because politicians don’t retire, we die,” joked the popular José Manuel García Margallo. At the beginning of April, the former Foreign Minister confirmed that he would not be a candidate for the PP in these elections.

Many attendees describe their sensations with less epic anonymous parliamentarians, who add the word “hangover” to their feelings of the last few days full of the farewell parties and, regardless of political color, they share the uncertainty of not knowing if they will have a job starting in June. At the end of the votes, the MEPs took advantage of the last selfies from their seats before the chamber lights go out until the first day of the tenth legislature, July 16.