In May of this year when Greece announced its candidates for the European Elections one of them stood out, and not only because he had long hair and was wearing a t-shirt. But because he was young. I don’t  mean to be ageist or stereotypical but this was a change, and according to the political party’s leader (PASOK – the Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Greece) George Papandreou, this was the call towards a sustainable future, as environmental issues were the forte of this candidate, and Greece needed a knowledgeable voice on these in the EU.
MEP Kriton Arsenis has now been in Brussels for more than a month (on and off with summer break) Strasbourg, and we’ve been trying to get together for a chat ever since his arrival, this last week we finally did. With a background in International Development (studied at the John F. Kennedy school of politics at Harvard) Directing a Wind power development agency in the Aegean, since 2005 as well as being active in supporting Wind power energy projects internationally since 1999, this 32 year old is not your average MEP.
In his office with staff that correlate to two other offices in Greece the activities are already varied and many and  time is crucial to this passionate young man. “It’s today that we have strict deadline. We don’t have 40 years, the planet doesn’t have 40 years. We have five years. We have to manage and change rapidly in these five years. The only more important five years were the five years before that, “ said Arsenis.
Following is the rest of our chat on a sunny breezy afternoon at the European Parliament in Brussels.

How has the first month been so far? What is your experience in Brussels and the European Parliament?
I feel that the European Parliament is like a big European village, both here and in Strasbourg. It’s so nice to find people from all over Europe speaking so many different languages. We express ourselves in our native languages throughout the meetings of the committees and political parties. But we come together to deal with common problems and it’s fascinating.
It’s what Europe is about. I am very positive that this is a good place to give important fights and struggles to improve everyday life for the citizens, for everyone. Especially I feel I am in the right place to be because I sincerely believe that we have five years ahead of us to deal with mounting environmental issues. I haven’t really seen Brussels as a city, I haven’t even found my apartment yet. But my focus was mainly finding and integrating a group of associates, all the people that help me with work. There are seven people that support my work in Athens, Thessaloniki and Brussels. My main focus was to prepare the instruction in all the offices. Last week we were in my village in Zagoroxoria (Greece) and we had the first meeting of all of my assistants together. So the team is now integrated and well functioning and we are preparing a lot of new things.
 

What challenges do you see arising from work in the development committee you are a substitute for? Do climate change migration and a lack of ability for under developed countries mean not just a struggle through the economic crisis but famine and death?
It’s very clear that poor people in all countries, especially poor countries will suffer the most from the climate change. It’s clear that we are going to have a drop in rainfall and a drop in accessibility to clear clean water. For example in sub-Saharan Africa people have to walk many hours every day in order to find water. Imagine what will happen now that this scarce part of our daily life, water, is going to be even scarcer. Even fisheries and agriculture will be affected in these poor countries. And because these countries are poor, they are more incapable of responding to such huge challenges. So the problems are going to be there, and it’s not going to be less of them. It’s our moral responsibility to respond to this issue. It is  for this reason that we are going to have a huge amount of climate refugees. Migration problems are already significant  in Europe. The pressure that Europe feels from all these people that are coming here in search for a better life, or human life conditions is nothing compared to what’s coming if we won’t help poor countries to respond to this crisis, which is going to be a humanitarian crisis. Climate change is going to change the proportion of the problem.

How do you quantify the affects the Lisbon Treaty will have on your work?
The Lisbon treaty is very important because of the social dimensions of European policies. We, the European Union, should look more at the social figures not strictly at economic figures. For example, similarly to the Stability Pact – it should incorporate more social targets. It is very important for Greece and for many other countries, due to its principal of insularity as we have all these island regions, and the EU should be obliged to treat its citizens equally wherever they are, even if they are in a difficult mountainous region, or distant island regions. All people should have the same access to education, the health care system, all the services that European citizens deserve. So there are a couple of issues that are important, of course the rule of the Parliament will totally change. The environmental committee creates legislation in the sense that we have a co-decision with the Commission, with the Council on the issues of new frameworks, new directives. But most of the committees in the EP have a consultative role. They cannot veto a decision of the Council. This will change and it’s important for democracy in Europe to reinforce the role of the EP. It’s our main democratic institution.

Is democracy still possible in the European Union?
I think we have a lot of work to do. It’s my generation that is in a strange situation. We took many things for granted and now we come to question most of the things we took for granted. We need to support and reinforce our labour rights and some of our democratic rights. It’s very well known the big fight that the EP managed to block the 65 hour working week. Within our generation we have an obligation to protect and to deepen democracy. We have to have more participatory procedures, to protect personal liberties further. There are many decisions these days that question many of our personal liberties. The EP is the institution that can protect and even improve the level of democracy. For sure we are in a minimalistic democracy. We have to protect all  democratic rights, the outcome of struggles of previous generations but we also have to expand and deepen democracy in Europe. Improving the level of democracy will decrease the level of corruption, improve responsiveness to the state institutions to various issues, environmental and many other social issues, and will improve everyday life.

Do you see this as the grand beginning of your political career?
I think being an active citizen is being politically active.  I am not sure but since 2005 I have been working with the programme Sustainable Aegean for example, wasn’t I doing a political job then? In any case the criteria that I choose where I am at, for which position I am fighting is where I can give the political environment for improving the everyday life, the harmonious and sustainable ways of citizens with effectiveness. Whether it is through a mainstream political institution, or civil society, I’m going to be there where the fight is the most crucial.

Were you glad to see that the Greek Green Party received a seat in the European Parliament following the previous European elections?
It’s important that the Greek people have understood that the problems of the environment are very important and now are taken into consideration. The environment is a criterion for everyone in Greece, even in deciding who he is going to vote in the elections. In Greece, PASOK has a strong programme for green development. It’s a very detailed programme, it’s actually a vision of PASOK for the country, and the Green party’s actually. They are the two parties that have a clear agenda. I believe that it is only a matter of time before all parties in Greece will follow this example and will enforce this agenda and will understand that the citizens put the environment as a priority right now. It’s not important if it’s the Green party, or not a green party, it’s important that the citizens send a message to everybody in the decision making that they are going to judge their work according to what they are going to do with the environment.

And finally (because I couldn’t resist) does anyone, or has anyone mentioned that you wear a t-shirt to work whereas every other male may be wearing an expensive suit?
It is time for change. Dress codes are reminiscent of past mentalities that our society has long overcome. It often has to do with the mentality that being an MEP puts you in a prestigious position in society. We are no one, but with an opportunity to improve everybody’s life. And this is a gift with no comparison.
 

 By Alia Papageorgiou