Could you start by presenting yourself and outlining shortly your responsibilities as an MEP?

“I am Julia Reda, I am the only member of the European Parliament for the Pirate Party, which is a party that ran for the European elections in 15 countries in 2014, so it’s quite a European movement. A big part of my responsibility is actually representing a European constituency rather than a German one. I think that distinguishes me a lot of from other MEPs. Here in the European Parliament, I joined the Greens/EFA group and got elected as vice president of the group. I am also a member of different committees, e.g. the legal affairs committee ‘JURI’, where I focus on progressive online copyright legislation.”

Why exactly did you choose to join the JURI i.e. the legal affairs committee?

“I have been personally confronted with the problems of copyright reform at several points in my life, e.g. during my studies as a student assistant. I think that the copyright regime still does not work very well for universities. And even before that: I think the first time I got in trouble with copyright was when I joined a translation project for the Harry Potter books to German, I was about fourteen years old at the time. Every time a new Harry Potter book came out, a group of volunteers would translate the book to German, unofficially before the official German version came out. Of course, that is a copyright infringement but it was more of a fan project that didn’t try to compete with the professional translation. I’m pretty sure that everyone who participated still bought the original book when it came out. Eventually, this translation, of which I did a chapter, had to be removed from the internet because of a conflict with the publisher. It was still a great experience! Hence you see, JURI for me was really the only choice!”

“I think the first time I got in trouble with copyright was when I joined a translation project for the Harry Potter books to German.”

You joined the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) before moving on to the pirate party. Could you share the thought process that lead to and eventually triggered this important decision?

“To begin with, I always considered myself left of center in terms of political affiliation. Politics were always very important in my family, where everyone was somehow politically active. Hence, I joined the SPD very early and my experience was that the party put me on the pedestal as a young female member, i.e. to show in the media that they had young members. However, they did not like these young members to be actually participating in the policy thinking, which bothered me, of course. This was very different in the Pirate Party, where I got involved in drafting policy within a relatively short time. I left the SPD when there was the conflict over the German internet blocking law in 2009 (so-called ‘Zugangserschwerungsgesetz’), which was the tip of the scale for me.“

How did you gain credibility at such a young age? Was it the environment that enabled you to flourish?

“The environment was very different in the two parties. E.g., in the SPD, they had this 140-year celebration of the party founding and I was hence put on stage with Gerhard Schröder and Michail Gorbatschov. Yet, I was not participating in decision-making processes at all. The furthest I got was as to become a replacement delegate at the municipal level.”   

“I was hence put on stage with Gerhard Schröder and Michail Gorbatschov. Yet, I was not participating in decision-making processes at all.”

Talking about the environment, how did you cope with the situation you faced when joining the European Parliament as a young female member in a relatively traditional surrounding? How did you gain credibility over time? You were voted as one of the most influential MEPs in Politico (Brussels-based newspaper) recently, which shows you are being perceived as influential today.

“First of all, I have experienced instances of sexism and ageism, although it works in combination a lot. Especially in the copyright reform, the most conservative position is usually held by elder men from French-speaking countries. There have been cases when in the middle of a committee meeting they attacked me verbally because of age or generally dismissed my opinion. Once, even Commissioner Oettinger lost his temper and attacked me in a plenary debate where I was not even present. I think in one case, somebody was even insinuating that I was corrupt or something like that. I had the impression that especially the older women in the EP don’t like this behavior at all, from whom I saw a lot of solidarity. They probably experienced the same thing themselves.” 

“There have been cases when in the middle of a committee meeting they attacked me verbally because of age or generally dismissed my opinion.”

How did they show solidarity?

“Solidarity is not necessarily about party lines or completely agreeing on the substance of issues but simply that a certain way of attacking a political opponent is not acceptable. For example, there was one committee meeting where I was attacked by an older social democrat and the chair of the meeting was a woman of the EPP (center-right party in the EP)  group who intervened and asked him to keep to a civilized conversation. In this regard, it is a problem that most committees are still predominantly chaired by men. It does make a difference to the atmosphere in the meetings when the chair is a woman.”

“Sometimes, older MEPs are scared of the message of younger people."

Looking back, now that you have been an MEP for some time, what were strategies that you developed over time to deal with ageism or sexism?

“I think one issue is that sometimes, older MEPs are scared of the message of younger people. Most MEPs communicate in a way that makes them look good and get re-elected. My communication is rather that of a campaigner than that of a public representative.  I like to work with videos, photos etc., i.e. different means of communication. My strategy is trying to create a public outcry to encourage people to go to their representative and lobby them to change their position. This is a good strategy, I think because it is unfamiliar to many older members and even if they don’t respect me as a young woman, then they have to respect the public opinion at least. So sometimes I take that route instead of convincing them directly.

The other thing is staying on top of the topic. Everybody is expected to hold a strong opinion on almost every political topic as MEP. But in policies as detailed as the copyright reform, MEPs cannot form an opinion on every detail. Consequently, by knowing details I can be ahead of them and make particular points.”