During Spring AgorAsturias, the new members of the Juridical Commission (JC) got elected, namely: Claudio Gennaro (AEGEE-Cagliari), Glòria (AEGEE-Heidelberg) and Salvatore Maraventano (AEGEE-Palermo). The AEGEEan interviewed them about their work and their aim for the upcoming term.

The AEGEEan: For those who do not know you yet, can you briefly introduce yourselves?
Claudio: I’m a law student in love with AEGEE, sports and music.
Glòria: I’ve studied law and I’m a member of AEGEE-Heidelberg. This term, I’m surrounded by Sicilians in the JC, so let’s see if I learn some Italian (or Italian law!).
Salvatore: I recently obtained my degree in law and now I’m dedicating myself to the JC and to my passions, travelling and surfing, while I try to find a way to start a career in the international law field.

Maybe not everyone knows what your actual work looks like. How exactly would you define the work as a member of the Juridical Commission?
Juridical Commission: You wouldn’t say it, but the work of the JC is very challenging. Basically, you have to answer questions and follow procedures according to the Corpus Iuridicum AEGEEnse (CIA). But some questions are very complicated, they have a lot of implications. It takes the right mix of knowledge, attention and creativity to solve them. We usually discuss a lot, present our argumentations and decide together. It is completely inspiring for a person with a juridical academic background. It’s like solving complicated puzzles for a math student.

Why did you apply for Juridical Commission? What is your personal motivation?
Claudio: After already two years in the JC I felt this chance as a new opportunity to be helpful for the association and its members.
Glòria: I applied for a second term in the JC because I really like the work here: it’s very interesting and at the same time you have fun with your colleagues.
Salvatore: I’ve been an active member of my antenna for three years. One of them as treasurer and two as president. At some point I felt like I had to give something more to the network and I decided to apply as subcommie, before, and as commissioner, later.
I also thought that this experience would be a nice boost to my CV and a way to learn new things. And in fact I am learning a lot.

What was your first reaction when you heard you got elected?
Claudio: It is always a great emotion to see your name on the big screen of the Agora, even when there are three places available and only three candidates.
Glòria: Although only three persons applied and three positions had to be covered, the results of any elections are always exciting!
Salvatore: I was not present at the Agora I was elected in, so I just received the photo of the screen of the results and the congratulations of the people. It was an honour. The JC is a body I consider of utmost importance and I’m proud to be part of it.

What are your specific aims for the upcoming term? Is there any concrete goal you want to achieve?
Juridical Commission: Continue with the process of simplification of the Corpus Iuridicum AEGEEnse. We dream of a smaller and coherent CIA that is easy to consult.

What about your Subcommissioners? Who are they and what are their tasks?
Juridical Commission: The subcommies of the JC are or were law students who help the commissioners in their daily tasks. They have already supervised elections and checked statutes of locals. This term, we have the luck to have an international group of motivated subcommies: Danica Petrovic (AEGEE-Beograd), Elisa Tabbì (AEGEE-Catania), Lucie Ostrà (AEGEE-Brno), Monika Mojak (AEGEE-Lublin) and Mateusz Zsoturma (AEGEE-Kraków).

Written by Lia Tuska, AEGEE-Sofia/Thessaloniki

After having been in the Juridical Commission (JC) for one year already as Commissioner and before that another year as Sub-commissioner, Claudio Gennaro (AEGEE-Cagliari) was not ready to leave and decided to run for another term. We spoke to him to find out more about himself, his motivation and plans!

The AEGEEan: First of all, can you tell us a bit more about yourself?

Claudio: This question always makes me think more rather than the others before writing something. I’m 22, a highly motivated AEGEEan since November 2011, law student, teamwork enthusiast and member of AEGEE-Cagliari with a never-ending post Erasmus syndrome.

What is something AEGEEans would not expect of you?

I’m a fan of the best band of our time: the Oasis.

How did you join AEGEE?

I was interested in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in my area and one day at the university I saw a flyer of an aperitivo [Italian for happy hour, ed.] organised by AEGEE. The same night I joined my first local, which was AEGEE-Agrigento, and applied for my first event, a New Year’s Event in Valletta. From that moment, nothing would have been the same anymore.

What is your experience within AEGEE?

I’ve been a board member of AEGEE-Agrigento for two years, as Public Relations (PR) Responsible and Secretary. I’ve also been main organiser of three Summer Universities and several exchanges and conferences. I’ve been speaker of the Human Ressources Committee (HRC), sub-commissioner of the Juridical Commission for one year and Commissioner since Spring Agora Patra.

What do you do in your life outside of AEGEE (if any)?

Apart from my student career, I’m interested in the world of the startup companies, I play the guitar and try to convince all my friends to join AEGEE.

You were already in the Juridical Commission for one year as Commissioner and another year as Sub-commissioner. What made you decide to run for another year?

If I have to choose only one thing, for sure it would be my awesome colleagues and all the people with whom I worked during this period of time. I really enjoyed every single day and aspect of our job and I’m looking forward to start another term with even more motivation and enthusiasm.

What has been your favourite part about the work for the Juridical Commission?

Being able to help people clarify their doubts and questions. I always tried to be as available and kind as possible with everybody who ever contacted the Juridical Commission for any issue. Human relations must always stand upon bureaucracy.

If you get re-elected, what is something you would do differently than you did the past year?

There isn’t only one aspect I would like to improve. With one year of experience on my back, I would work to develop the overall efficiency of the commission, its internal organisation and external influence.

How do you plan to maintain the independence of the Juridical Commission?

First, protecting the real will of those who contributed to write our Corpus Iuridicum Aegeense (CIA) from those who try to manipulate its meaning to achieve benefits from it. Second, not being influenced by anybody of our network while taking decisions or giving interpretations. That’s the mission of every jurist.

Do you have any plans regarding the CIA when you are re-elected?

If elected, I will continue working on the path of simplification and coherency we already started. Our CIA is already a good juridical text, but has wide margins of improvement.

One of our readers asked: May you, please, point out the most relevant aspects of your candidature?

Sure. An aspect that I believe to be crucial is developing a task that we already do on daily basis, which is assisting our members in the drawn of legal texts. This is something I really care about since it can be incredibly helpful for many people on both the local and European level. I would like to create a template for contracts and documents, as well as being available for calls and chat with whoever would be in need of legal assistance, as I already did regularly during my term.

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen