Joris Veenhuis (AEGEE-Maastricht) was elected in the past Autumn Agora Zaragoza as one of the members of the Juridical Commission. In just a few days, at Spring Agora Patra, he runs again for the same position in order to bring experience and continuity to the work of the JC. The AEGEEan has talked to him about what he has learnt during this time at the JC, and his plans for the next term if elected.
The AEGEEan: Tell us a bit about yourself: who are you, where do you come from, what do you study?
Joris: I am Joris from AEGEE-Maastricht, and I try to complete masters European Law and Administrative Law after having completed a bachelor on European Law.
The AEGEEan: When and how did you join AEGEE?
Joris: Well I knew AEGEE-Drienerlo legend Paulus from before my AEGEE time and he told me to go on a summer university because it was awesome. I signed up without ever meeting a single AEGEE-Maastricht member and I went to Istanbul. I was sold! Why were these local students organising this awesome time without getting any money? I wanted to do the same for others!
When I came home, I went on Erasmus for a year, to a city without AEGEE (AEGEE-Edinburgh, where are you!?), and I forgot about it for a bit, but two years later I went on another SU, and became an active member immediately after!
The AEGEEan: You have a broad experience at the JC, first as subcommissioner and afterwards as a member elected in Zaragoza. What have you learnt during all this time?
Joris: So much! Of course I’m starting to know the CIA inside out now, but, more interestingly, the practicalities of the European Level, the work the other bodies do and the difficulties they have. There’ve also been quite some questions that deal with national legal systems and their laws of association and that can be very interesting (for a boring law student).
But also the people, starting with Diana Tupchiienko, our team of subcommies, then Atanas Nachkov is quite an awesome help considering that he’s supposed to be retired, the people in the bodies that we work together with, the bodies that we organise elections for. I don’t know, I’m just starting to see the whole puzzle clearer and clearer and I’m glad to be a piece of it.
The AEGEEan: You have also worked with some of the other candidates. What do you think of all of them?
Joris: Gloria Llopart and Claudio Gennaro became subcommissioner together with me and we worked together on the JC entry tests, so I know they are capable people and that I can work with them. They stayed on as subcommies after I was elected JC and they helped organised working group elections, gave us input on questions, handled stuff independently so I know they can do the job and I’m really glad they’re candidating.
I only Jakub Oleksy know from organising the EBM and I know he’s a good guy and he did a good job there but I’m really sorry he didn’t become a subcommie first. That way he could have taken away some of the doubts about his English skills that were raised during Zaragoza and have gained some more experience with the CIA and the job.
The AEGEEan: And what about you – which do you think are your strongest points?
Joris: A good legal English (if not for my Dutch accent), good legal knowledge, experience in the JC, experience organising/being in the board at the local level, loyal, creative.
The AEGEEan: Do you plan to bring any “big” changes to the JC, or would you rather strive for a continuity?
Joris: Continuity for sure, but after this Agora we’re gonna be three elected members for the first time – which is very good, as it will make us less dependent on everyone to be there – but that means we’re also gonna need a bit more structure and I want to create a clear system that makes sure all questions are addressed quickly, and people always know their question is being handled, even at those moments when we’re all busy and maybe some are entirely unavailable. I feel we have not been as professional with this as we could have been.
The AEGEEan: You have also been involved in some of this Agora’s proposals. What do you expect from them?
Joris: There are three proposals from the JC and each of them is a small step to make the CIA better, more clear and easier to understand, and this is supposed to be a process: (if I get elected) I plan to do this for every Agora, and I already have some ideas for the next (and I think that should also involve removing some redundant parts). I think making sure the CIA on the end of the term is better than it was on the beginning should be a task for every Juridical Commission.
Then we also helped the other proposers to make the best of their proposals, but I’ll let the proposers explain those; the JC is neutral. The proposal on scrapping nationalities and countries will be a very interesting discussion I think!
The AEGEEan: The JC has also been holding talks with the Election Observation Project, who plan to observe the next Agora elections. What do you think of this idea, and do you plan any further cooperation?
Joris: I’ve been actively involved in these talks and I’m also on the project’s mailing list, and I absolutely love the idea of the EOP as a whole. It’s a perfect way to really achieve something that’s in our core values instead of just telling others about our position. It will also provide our members with yet more ways to travel, to learn, to be active!
As for observing the Agora elections, of course as having been actively involved in the election organisation I know with how much integrity they are organised, but for me, that’s a reason to welcome these observers and to show them that. Transparency is an essential part of democracy. Plus it will be an opportunity to give our EOP members some experience.
So we fully supported the idea, but we did insist on drafting a document on the conditions of these observations, to stop it from making AEGEE more bureaucratic, to keep everything transparent and to make sure we can fulfil our obligations as Juridical Commission in supervising the elections. The document will be presented at the Agora.
The AEGEan: AEGEE has many Law students but sometimes it is said to be rather hard to find subcommissioners. If elected, how do you plan to deal with this?
Joris: Actually I don’t think it’s that hard. We’ve had a great subcommissioner team since I’ve been part of it, and we even had some applications during the last half-year, without incessantly bugging people about it.
At the Agora we’re quite visible and I think we have the image of a professional body with a clear supportive task, that people want to be part of. The only thing that makes it a bit harder is that we need people with a background in law.
But if anyone reading this interview is interested, please email juridical@aegee.org or visit us at the Agora fair!
The AEGEEan: And, as we have asked the rest of the candidates: do you have any plan to bring the tasks of the JC closer to the Network?
Joris: Well, I think it’s most important to bring the Network (locals, delegates) closer to the Agora and the JC is just a tool to help with that – use us! The more members (delegates but also visitors!) listen critically during the Agora and dare to say something, the better decisions we as an association will take. It’s in my opinion ridiculous that you can have an entire plenary without anyone asking anything because really, if you listen there will be something that you want to know.
But in order to be critical you have to know a little bit how things work, and that’s where we can help you!
Atanas is gonna give a workshop on just that, and during the Chair meeting we decided to give it a prominent place in this Agora’s program: right after the opening plenary with parallel only the Agora Speed Course for the least experienced. So watch out for the Dark Agora Army!
Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona