In May 2019, Catherine Rowett made history by becoming the first Green Party MEP elected in the East of England (which covers Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Essex and Bedfordshire) joining a group of seven British Green MEPs who were returned to the European Parliament for the 2019-2024 term. Sadly their term of office was cut short on 31st January 2020.
Before taking up office as MEP, Catherine Rowett was a professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, a position she took up in 2003. She had previously held posts at the University of Liverpool and Swansea University in South Wales.
Catherine is cited the world over for her influential research on Presocratic philosophy, Aristotle, and Plato (including some key publications on Plato’s political and economic ideas in the Republic). She has published seven books, one of which (her popular pocket book called Presocratic Philosophy: a very short introduction) has also been translated into both Modern Greek and Portuguese.
Before becoming an MEP, Catherine was active for many years locally and regionally in Green Party politics. She has been a lifelong believer in the importance of changing things at the political level in order to solve the crises facing us on this planet, to achieve a fairer distribution of resources and to prevent the global problems that we face because of the fact that the super-rich hold all the power and all the wealth.
During her seven months in office she worked with 75 members of other Green parties across Europe, to deliver radical and visionary corrections to existing and emerging EU policies. It was during those seven months that the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament was larger than it had ever been before or since, and was the fourth largest Group in the Parliament.
During her time in Parliament, Catherine made a point of gaining political and technical expertise on a wide range of issues relevant to the region and to the wider world, especially in relation to transport, agriculture, fishing, fair taxation, aviation, and energy, as well as key issues relating to migration, refugees, religious persecution and the increasing threats to human rights and democracy within and beyond the EU. As a former MEP she retains access to events and resources at the European Parliament, and she plans to maintain a commitment to covering the European dimension of many issues of political interest to the UK and to the region, and keeping those aspects in the public eye.
Catherine is available to speak in Schools, in Universities, and at public events. She is also happy to contribute to political action days and in the media. Please contact her on catherine.rowett@greenparty.org.uk