Anna MikkolaAnna Mikkola is running for European Parliament in Finland as a member of the eco-socialist Left Alliance party. At the age of 28 she's the youngest member of the 14 candidates on the Left Alliance's list for the multi-national body. She spoke to Wikinews during a break in campaigning. Finland votes in the European Parliament election on June 7. I believe I was 16 or 17 at the time, and I just stopped by at the local party office and asked if there was something I could do. There had just been a general election in Finland and the conservatives widely spoke of things I could not accept. Like [how] public financing for culture and sports is unnecessary. One politician even suggested young people could spend their time climbing trees and not expect society to provide them with facilities.So from there you went straight into the Left Youth . How did you choose that party? Did you explore others? It was between the Green party and the Left Alliance. The Greens I felt concentrated too much on individual life style choices as a method of doing politics, so I chose the Left Alliance. I have always been the sort of person who likes to think of structures and their effects, the big picture in a social sense if you may. Now, Finland's role in the world has fundamentally changed in your lifetime: from a neutral state with closer ties to the Soviet Union than many others in democratic Europe, to EU member and now potentially to NATO member. Do you think your youth makes it easier for you to adapt to the changes going on? We have an interesting Green party in Finland, who have accepted the necessity of additional nuclear power and support market mechanisms as a part of their climate policy without any questions or caveats. So yes, there is an attempt to create a green capitalist system . The youth as well are divided on this issue. Many people however do see the problems of turning the environment or climate action into products you can buy or sell and speculate with. In that sense I feel environmentalism cannot be separated from socialism, which has a fundamentally different logic. The other end, though, to the importance of the youth vote is voter apathy; how do you deal with the situation of "celebrity" candidates, in particular far-right candidates like Timo Soini ? In European elections the problem is apathy in general, not just youth apathy. But maybe you can separate between two types: many older people do not vote in these elections because they don't like the EU and/or because they feel they cannot change anything by voting since the EU is too big and too far way. These are choices, often resulting from considering the options. Many young people do not vote in elections in general, because they do not really even notice them. Their apathy is not a result of a decision, but genuinely a product of being out of the whle political process. This is something Timo Soini cannot change I think. His candidacy is a big risk for him in any case, since his party is a one man show to a great extent. If he buries himself in Brussels it might well be the end of that party.You've been working in Brussels yourself for over a year now; how did you stay in touch with the situation in Finland before the campaign began? Mostly by visiting Finland often. It's been two years that I have worked in the European parliament now. Working as a parliamentary assistant to a Finnish MEP kind of means you need to be aware of what is happening in Finland and what the papers are saying about it. Now let's talk policy; on your website you mention numerous issues with the Lisbon treaty but also say that EU membership isn't an either-or consideration. If you could re-write Lisbon, what would you take out, what would you put in? Simply put I would take out all the militarisation stuff, and remove the neoliberal economic thinking of no rules for the financial markets, and maybe remove some of the new policy areas. I would put in a social progress clause that would ensure rights (especially worker's rights) inside the EU and add a recognition for e.g. cross border strikes.On the subject of militarization, what would be the best alternative to the European Defence Agency ? What's the right path, if any, for collective European defense? Defense is a word that is understood very differently in different European countries. The Finnish tend to understand this term as passive defense, but many — especially old colonial countries — understand it in a more active sense, as including pre-emptive and aggressive operations outside EU borders. I believe the right path to be a firm concentration on non-aggressive peacekeeping . As for a common European defense, I am against the idea because of the abovementioned reasons. The European Defence Agency is basically an arms trading operation, when its role would maybe be better in co-ordination of crisis management and peacekeeping. That is for them to decide. However any European defence organisation would be based on NATO, and would not respect the status of non-allied countries. I believe the European Union should respect it.With regard to workers' rights, a number of parties on the left have raised objections to the Posted Workers Directive and the European Court of Justice's positions on the rights of workers from one EU country working in another. Finland both receives foreign workers and sends workers elsewhere; how could the Posted Workers Directive be best fixed, in your view? Solid majorities...The Finnish parliament started its proceedings with it before a translation was available. Then they ratified without any public discussion. I think there would be will, but it is clearly not appropriate to talk about it, since the Lisbon Treaty is presented as the only option. Besides, tax payers pay the politicians to do their job. With that money one would assume they would not say they don't have the energy for a new Treaty. I think such an alliance would be impossible in post-Lisbon EU too. The anti-European right tends to combine their act to anti-immigration as well in many cases, and very aggressively. I think with the current economic crisis there is an increased risk that the political right, even neofascism , could gain as people look for some way to express their frustration.So to wrap up, then: what's the best thing the next European Parliament can do, and what's the best thing you could do in the next European Parliament? Thank you, and now I have to run to my next event! 
Anna Mikkola is running for as a member of the party. At the age of 28 she's the youngest member of the 14 candidates on the Left Alliance's list for the multi-national body. She spoke to Wikinews during a break in campaigning. Finland votes in the on June 7. I believe I was 16 or 17 at the time, and I just stopped by at the local party office and asked if there was something I could do. There had just been a and the conservatives widely spoke of things I could not accept. Like [how] public financing for culture and sports is unnecessary. One politician even suggested young people could spend their time climbing trees and not expect society to provide them with facilities.So from there you went straight into the . How did you choose that party? Did you explore others? It was between the and the Left Alliance. The Greens I felt concentrated too much on individual life style choices as a method of doing politics, so I chose the Left Alliance. I have always been the sort of person who likes to think of structures and their effects, the big picture in a social sense if you may. Now, Finland's has fundamentally changed in your lifetime: from a neutral state with than many others in democratic Europe, to member and now potentially to member. Do you think your youth makes it easier for you to adapt to the changes going on? We have an interesting Green party in Finland, who have accepted the necessity of additional nuclear power and support market mechanisms as a part of their climate policy without any questions or caveats. So yes, there is an attempt to create a . The youth as well are divided on this issue. Many people however do see the problems of turning the environment or climate action into products you can buy or sell and speculate with. In that sense I feel environmentalism cannot be separated from socialism, which has a fundamentally different logic. The other end, though, to the importance of the youth vote is voter apathy; how do you deal with the situation of "celebrity" candidates, in particular far-right candidates like ? In European elections the problem is apathy in general, not just youth apathy. But maybe you can separate between two types: many older people do not vote in these elections because they don't like the EU and/or because they feel they cannot change anything by voting since the EU is too big and too far way. These are choices, often resulting from considering the options. Many young people do not vote in elections in general, because they do not really even notice them. Their apathy is not a result of a decision, but genuinely a product of being out of the whle political process. This is something Timo Soini cannot change I think. His candidacy is a big risk for him in any case, since is a one man show to a great extent. If he buries himself in it might well be the end of that party.You've been working in Brussels yourself for over a year now; how did you stay in touch with the situation in Finland before the campaign began? Mostly by visiting Finland often. It's been two years that I have worked in the European parliament now. Working as a parliamentary assistant to a kind of means you need to be aware of what is happening in Finland and what the papers are saying about it. Now let's talk policy; on your website you mention numerous issues with the but also say that EU membership isn't an either-or consideration. If you could re-write Lisbon, what would you take out, what would you put in? Simply put I would take out all the militarisation stuff, and remove the economic thinking of no rules for the financial markets, and maybe remove some of the new policy areas. I would put in a social progress clause that would ensure rights (especially worker's rights) inside the EU and add a recognition for e.g. cross border strikes.On the subject of militarization, what would be the best alternative to the ? What's the right path, if any, for collective European defense? Defense is a word that is understood very differently in different European countries. The Finnish tend to understand this term as passive defense, but many — especially old colonial countries — understand it in a more active sense, as including pre-emptive and aggressive operations outside EU borders. I believe the right path to be a firm concentration on non-aggressive . As for a common European defense, I am against the idea because of the abovementioned reasons. The European Defence Agency is basically an arms trading operation, when its role would maybe be better in co-ordination of crisis management and peacekeeping. That is for them to decide. However any European defence organisation would be based on NATO, and would not respect the status of non-allied countries. I believe the European Union should respect it.With regard to workers' rights, a number of parties on the left have raised objections to the and the European Court of Justice's positions on the rights of workers from one EU country working in another. Finland both receives foreign workers and sends workers elsewhere; how could the Posted Workers Directive be best fixed, in your view? Solid majorities...The started its proceedings with it before a translation was available. Then they ratified without any public discussion. I think there would be will, but it is clearly not appropriate to talk about it, since the Lisbon Treaty is presented as the only option. Besides, tax payers pay the politicians to do their job. With that money one would assume they would not say they don't have the energy for a new Treaty. I think such an alliance would be impossible in post-Lisbon EU too. The anti-European right tends to combine their act to anti-immigration as well in many cases, and very aggressively. I think with the current economic crisis there is an increased risk that the political right, even , could gain as people look for some way to express their frustration.So to wrap up, then: what's the best thing the next European Parliament can do, and what's the best thing you could do in the next European Parliament? Thank you, and now I have to run to my next event! Sister links
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MikkolaAnna
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European Parliament in Finland
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eco-socialist Left Alliance
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European Parliament election
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general election in Finland
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Green party
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closer ties to the Soviet Union
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EU
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NATO
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green capitalist system
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Timo Soini
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his party
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Brussels
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Finnish MEP
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Lisbon treaty
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neoliberal
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European Defence Agency
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peacekeeping
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Posted Workers Directive
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Finnish parliament
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neofascism
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