By Maria Zougra
Practicing lawyer Myrto Korovesi is the youngest parliamentary candidate – only 25 years old – of the upcoming national elections in Greece, on the SYRIZA ballot. Specifically, the 25-year-old, who is a graduate of the Athens Law School and secretary of the SYRIZA youth group, is a candidate in eastern Attica. In her first full-length interview for the Hellenic News of America, she explains her reasons for running, her vision as a member of the Greek Parliament if she gets a positive vote, and her thoughts on the next day.
– Why did you decide to run for office, despite your young age.
“I understand that I dared. That few and only few would make this decision if they were in my position. That the “system” suggests these occupations to “others” and for “others” it designates them. A myth has been created that the commons are for adults. No, it’s for us, too. It is also for a young lawyer, like me, who did her studies working mainly in the catering industry, with a living wage, at most, 30 euros a day, who had to cope with studies and everyday life and who knows from the inside the many problems facing her generation today. It was a big bet for me to try to change some things, to help if you want, maybe, we, the young people, take back the part of life that today’s politics and situations have deprived us of”.
– What did the president of SYRIZA, Mr. Alexis Tsipras, say to convince you to compete in votes with proven or more popular candidates?
“He told me that he believes in young people. Together I want us to strive for a better tomorrow, for a justice that will start from everyday life and will reach the institutions. He told me to express myself, who I am and my generation. That he will be a helper in this effort and that we will always walk this difficult road together until the end. He convinced me that we will fight to make the lives of young people and society better.”
– How do you feel about being the youngest parliamentary candidate?
“I have to prove that I can meet the responsibilities and at the same time honor the offer to be the youngest parliamentary candidate of all parties in all of Greece. I will try to justify and not refute, I will try to put my little stone in, so that in the future younger men and women will have the same opportunity. Also, I feel indebted. A duty to defend my generation, to represent it and to claim everything that I believe belongs to us.”
– If elected, what will you correct, change, promote? What is your political vision?
“One of my first priorities is to help, both as a lawyer and a woman, to strengthen the weak and weak framework that concerns abused women and abusive behaviors. At the same time, if I can paraphrase what John Fitzgerald Kennedy had said that inspires me and say: young people do not watch what is happening to them indifferently. Let’s go and do something for ourselves, to be active and claim what concerns us”.
– Why did you choose to participate in the elections with SYRIZA and not another party?
“Alexis Tsipras has certainly played his role. But I am also convinced that the programs and ideas of the center-left parties are much closer to young people and the problems that concern them. And I believe that in our country there are two leaders who tried to put this into practice, Andreas Papandreou, and Alexis Tsipras”.
– Should women’s voices increase in the Greek parliament and, if so, why?
“We need everyone, based on our capabilities. But it is a fact that in our country, at least, the presence of women in the public sphere, in the Parliament, in the ministries, as the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, stated on the BBC (“unfortunately, I had no women to put as ministers”) is limited. It is also a fact that in the male-dominated positions of the public, something has not been going so well for years now. We need staff renewal and enrichment. More young people and more women. And in this regard, the party that believes in women is Syriza. In his ballots (and in government positions when he was in government) participation is divided. So, if we activate and if we make use of capable young people and capable women, we will make a profit. And in my opinion, big.”
– The national elections are taking place in the wake of parole and a denunciation and waiver of immunity. I am referring to Eva Kaili and Alexis Georgoulis, two new, promising faces, who, however, caused a storm of political reactions.
“If what they are accused of is correct and true, then for Justice, politics, but also society, they must be foreign bodies, examples of avoidance and punished. As a lawyer, I embrace the presumption of innocence, according to which everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and in legal science the concept of evidence is crucial. As a woman, however, I agree with the proposal of my party and of Alexis Tsipras, who clearly states the simple (and, unfortunately, not self-evident), that we are always with the victims and not with the perpetrator.”
– What do you think of the “green light” from the State Department for the sale of the new F-16 communication system to Turkey?
“I may not be the most qualified to answer that. However, I believe that this sale was the least of what Turkey expected. I am convinced that the State Department’s relations with the neighboring country are still not good.”
