Meeting 8 of the 8th PPEU board 20.11.2023, 18:30 CET/17:30 UTC
Meeting is remote

Members of the Board
C: Mikuláš Peksa
VC: Cédric Levieux
VC: Veronika Murzynová
TR: Alessandro Ciofini
BM: Elísabet Ólafsdóttir
BM: Florian Roussel
BM: Jan Mareš
BM: Mia Utz
BM: Petra Kovačec

Standing invitations
Mattias Bjärnemalm, Pirate Parties Network Officer
Maija Raudaskoski, Pirate Parties network intern

Meeting opened at: 18:37 CET
Meeting chaired by: decided under point 0.1
Secretary for this meeting: decided under point 0.2
Pad: https://etherpad.pp-international.net/p/Board8Meeting8
RoP: https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/rules-of-procedure-for-the-board

Participants:
C: Mikuláš Peksa
VC: Cédric Levieux
VC: Veronika Murzynová
TR: Alessandro Ciofini
BM: Florian Roussel
BM: Petra Kovačec
BM: Jan Mareš
BM: Mia Utz (arrived at 19:20)
Mattias Bjärnemalm, Pirate Parties Network Officer
Maija Raudaskoski, Pirate Parties network intern (the best network intern ever)

Excused:

Not excused:
BM: Elísabet Ólafsdóttir

Guests:
Rebecca Lau, PPLU

Agenda:
0. Formalities 0.1 Election of meeting chair
0.2 Election of meeting Secretary
0.3. Approval of the agenda
0.4. Approval of the minutes of the last meeting: https://wiki.ppeu.net/doku.php?id=pp-eu:board-meeting08_07
0.5 Confirmation of any decisions taken in between meetings
0.6 Written reports
1. Decisions without discussions
1.1 Time and place for next board meeting
2. Decisions with discussions
2.1 Preparations for the December Council meeting
2.1.1 Changes to the Agenda
2.1.2 Agenda point 2a: Report on the 2023 Accounts
2.1.3 Agenda point 2b: Approval of the 2024 Budget
2.1.4 Agenda point 2a: Update on the ratification of the Common European Election Program (CEEP) and the Common Pirate Strategy (CPS) for the 2024 European Elections
2.1.5 Agenda point 2b: 2024 European Parliament Elections
2.2 Preparations of the January Council meeting
2.2.1 Selecting a board member to be responsible for the event, including preparing a draft invitation that should be sent, at the latest, on December 30
2.2.2 Confirmation of date and place
3. Discussions without decisions
4. Any other business

Discussions in bold cursive are priority discussions and can, if needed, be discussed before point 1 of the agenda

The meeting is scheduled for a maximum of 60 minutes. It can be extended by consensus

—

Minutes:

0.1 Election of meeting chair

The meeting elected Mikuláš, Alessandro as meeting chair

0.2 Election of meeting Secretary

The meeting elected Veronika as meeting secretary and agreed that we would work collectively on the minutes in the pad

0.3. Approval of the agenda:

Yes: Petra, Florian, Veronika, Cédric, Mikuláš, Alessandro, Jan
No:
Abstain:

0.4. Approval of the minutes of the last meetings

Yes: Florian, Cédric, Veronika, Alessandro, Petra, Jan
No:
Abstain: Mikuláš,

0.5 Confirmation of any decisions taken in between meetings

Any decisions taken by email, in mattermost or Discourse, or by any other means shall be listed below, including time and place for the decision. They shall be confirmed by a vote of the Board.

No decisions to be confirmed.

Yes:
No:
Abstain:

0.6 Written reports

Mattias Bjärnemalm, Pirate Party Network Officer
* Still waiting for admin rights for the Wiki
* No progress with setting up a task force for the website overhaul
* No progress with mailinglist merger
* We have gotten indications that the Greens/EFA Group might want to formalise our relationship through an official agreement before the upcoming elections. If that is the case we should be receiving an offer shortly, that the Board can propose to the next Council meeting.

Veronika Murzynová, Vice Chair
* tried to deal with PP-CZ stuff regarding European elections
* too much work in the non-govt sector with grants ending and starting, sorry, so haven't made progress regarding other parties
* was in contact with Bastian, waiting for german banks to sort themselves out and afterwards will deal with aftermath of closing the other account

Jan Mareš, Board Member
Letter from the PPCZ regarding CEEP ratification. Short Timeline:
1) The letter is a product of the PPCZ Republican Committee, a 30-member body elected by the members. It is a counterweight body to the PPCZ Executive Board, and has amongst other things the power to formally create ratify election programs.
2) The Committee was aware of the CEEP creation, it's members were invited to take part many times, starting in Winter 22/23.
3) Serious discussion of CEEP only began in late August - Foreign Minister Lipavsky (member of the Committee) voiced several objections and recommended initially to decline ratification partially or entirely
3.1) Many objections were not based on PPCZ Programme, but on difference of personal opinions (i.e. Lipavsky wanted to step back from Pirate insistence on abolishing Unanimity (Veto powers) in EU decision making)
3.2) Most objections were aimed at parts of CEEP coordinated by Czech MEPs, the debate coincided with PPCZ Primary elections with Lipavsky backing alternative candidates to Mikulaš, Markéta, Marcel.
3.3) PPCZ is in process of update of it's “Long Term Programme Statement” (in many parts unchanged since 2011), this process is ongoing since 1-2 years. Several “binding opinions” (these are published by official working groups of the Party) are in the process of drafting - Migration.
4) August-early October was set up as time for collection of Objections - several dozen initially collected.
5) October - several meetings held (chaired by David Wagner, Member of the Committee), large part of objections resolved.
6) November 5-6, Committee Meeting - further reduction of objections. Most objections require “clarification”, 2 are flat out refusals (Derogations) to ratify the given Programme Parts. 6.1) 1st Derogation is based on an update of the Party Programme on 5th of November (the same day this decision was made). 2nd is a broad refusal of the part of Programme that PPCZ currently has no binding opinion on\\. 6.2) PPCZ leaves it up to PPEU to deal with the situation, with heavy emphasis on re-writing the given chapters. Implicitly in close coordination with PPCZ, otherwise it will be refused again.

Any written reports or other updates that has been submitted before the start of the meeting shall be added here. Verbal reports given during the meeting go under 4.0 (AOB).

1. Decisions without discussions

1.1 Time and place for next board meeting

Proposal: December 11th 19:00-20:00

JM: suggests starting at 19:00
MP: anyone against?
CL: Not against, just don't know if I'll be available, normally yes
Proposal amended to start at 19:00, approved.

Yes: Florian, Alessandro, Veronika, Petra, Mikuláš
No:
Abstain: Cédric, Jan

2. Decisions with discussions

2.1 Preparations for the December Council meeting

2.1.1 Changes to the Agenda

Agenda: https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/agenda-for-the-14th-council-meeting/540

This is so we can discuss if we want to change anything on the agenda for the upcoming Council meeting.
Proposals can be found in the sub-points below.

2.1.2 Agenda point 3a: Report on the 2023 Accounts
Draft proposal can be found on Discourse:https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/final-budget-2023-proposal/543

AC: explains the budget
balance forward - balance from previous year
income: received some late fees, 5 member fees still missing, variable: donation from YPE expenses: outstanding banking fees (to deal with German account), EUR 600 for Mattermost servers, while domains and all other services except for Discourse that is paid by the Pirate delegation, emails and mailing lists are not under our control (so we don't know how much/if we need to pay, we should ask Bastian)
variable expenses: not spent
events: EUR 2000 paid to PP-FR for 2023 Council meeting

MP: asks to use IBAN, also needs to clarify with Panda about the Mattermost server, other service donated by Bastian so we should ask for costs and record them (at least as donated)
MM: we should rename the file as “Report on 2023 Accounts” and add a date for which it is actual
FR: I have a few remarks on the amounts here and there but it's only minor adjustments, I'd suggest we vote the general layout now and I'll fine tune the details and amounts in specific items with Alessandro (we discussed that already and the documents submitted here are not up to date).

MP: moves to approval

Mab: the point of the agenda is “Report on the 2023 Account”, so it would be good to rename the file, as well as putting a header inside the file with this title

Proposal: approve draft, with the change in the name to “Report on the 2023 Account”:

Yes:Florian, Mikuláš, Petra, Cédric, Alessandro, Veronika, Jan
No:
Abstain:

Approved.

2.1.3 Agenda point 3b: Approval of the 2024 Budget
Draft proposal can be found on Discourse:https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/provisional-budget-2024-proposal

AC: we need to sort out parties who have not paid fees for 2 consecutive years, maybe we need to take it to the Council meeting.
fixed income: in reality will probably be a bit less due to membership fees not being paid
variable income: investigated opening a collective account to collect small donations from the whole Pirate community across Europe
fixed expenses:
variable expenses: Board emergency expenses, EUR 2500 for LUX Council meeting

MP: thanks Alessandro and Florian for preparing the budget, what is our status for donations?
AC: we do not have a proposal / regulation regarding donations
MP: maybe just prepare some guidelines,
MM: one line on donations in Statutes, “all members might further contribute…”, we might need to clarify that non-members can also donate, ask MEPs to donate?
MP: get a statement from the Board under which conditions we are willing to VM: donations yes, under certain conditions - e.g. transparent account, in case we need to return donations from certain individuals or companies, reg. MEPs - we can point out to them that it is possible, but not push them as it might create dependency of the organisation on the political representation which is not healthy
AC: everything that is not forbidden should be allowed (reg. Statutes)
CL: Maybe the different parties can make some pools for the ppeu, pirates donate to their parties according to their laws and these parties give the pools to the ppeu
VM: prepare draft statement for the Council in Mattermost si we can talk about it or approve it on next Board meeting

Proposal: approve draft:

Yes: Florian, Alessandro, Mikuláš, Cédric, Veronika Petra, Mia
No:
Abstain:

Approved.

2.1.4 Agenda point 2a: Update on the ratification of the Common European Election Program (CEEP) and the Common Pirate Strategy (CPS) for the 2024 European Elections

General progress on the ratification process can be found here: https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/ceep-cps-ratification-process-tracking

The board has also received by email a reply from the Czech Pirate Party where they only ratify the CEEP in part. The board will need to discuss how to address this, and if it means changing the Council meeting agenda for December to allow the Council to take decisions on the matter if needed. The Czech email can be found here: https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/ceep-cps-ratification-process-tracking/528/3?

Alessandro takes the chair

MP: [gives background and brief timeline of CZ ratification process]
JM: I detailed the same issues earlier in written reports; problem is that PPCZ political programme has been under revision, CEEP was in accordance with the PPCZ programmes at time of writing and passing through PPEU council, but after recently approved changes to PPCZ programmes this is no longer the case FR: proposing response: state that it is not for the board to enact changes to CEEP,
MB: agree with everything Florian said, what is needed now is preparing for the event that PPCZ does nothing in response to the board's response; [three possible solutions]
FR:

Proposal 1: Answer from the board : Thank you for your email. It is too late too make changes in the CEEP, in particular for the PPEU Board to do so as there was a deadline set by a previous Council Meeting. But the Member Parties gathered in a Council Meeting have the ability to do what they please so they could modify the process or the CEEP. We suggest that PP-CZ brings it forward in such occasion. We underline that changes happening this far in the process in a Council Meeting would be disruptive of the democratic process which was agreed : pirates in all parties have been working and discussing it at length, as opposed to a set of delegates changing it in a Council Meeting at last minute.

VM: quick note, some parties already approved the CEEP as it is; we said several times that CEEP and CPS should be ratified as they are, this was specifically to prevent this kind of cherry-picking and last-minute changes; way too late for deletions/amendments; we should not be promoting a sense of self-importance in parties by allowing changes this far into the process, especially at a point when other parties were able to accept and ratify the programme
MP: agree with all Veronika said; if PPCZ want to make changes to the CEEP, it should go through council; the situation where this (? split ratification ?) becomes a practical problem, would be when future MEPs try to follow the programme
[lengthy procedural conversation on how to vote on proposals and whether final edit of the text should be produced outside meeting]

Proposal 2 for an answer to the Czech Pirates (Mab version):
“thank you for your email. Unfortunately the process adopted by the European Pirate Party Council clearly stated a timeline for when changes could be approved, and the process for how to do it. As such, there's nothing the Board can do right now, but to note that unfortnately PPCZ has not ratified the CEEP 2024. We would kindly suggest that if you are not happy with this outcome you send a proposal for a way forward to the PPEU Council meeting. You can post any proposal you want the Council to address in the PPEU Discourse: https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/c/councilmeetings/

On behalf of the European Pirate Party board,”

Proposal 1: Florian, Cédric, Jan, Mikuláš, Veronika, Mia,
Proposal 2: Alessandro, Cédric, Mia, Petra,
None of them :
Abstain:

Proposal: the board delegates to the chair to send an appropriate response based on the general lines presented in proposal 1 above

Yes: Alessandro, Florian, Veronika, Cédric, Mia, Mikuláš, Petra
No:
Abstain:

Approved.

Proposal: the board will flag the reply from the czech pirates in the PPEU Discourse in the Council category
Yes: Florian, Alessandro, Cédric, Mikuláš, Jan, Petra, Mia, Veronika
No:
Abstain:

Approved.

2.1.5 Agenda point 2b: 2024 European Parliament Elections

There is an informal procedure followed by most European Political Parties to announce one or more Spitzenkandidat for the European Election. This is in short candidates the parties propose to lead the European Commission, should they become the winners of the European elections. This procedure is not clearly written in the treaties, but extrapolated by the parties from a line stating the the selection of the President of the Commission should take the results of the election into account. The European Pirate Party had such candidates in 2014, but not in 2019. Is this something we would like to have again for the upcoming elections? If so, how should they be selected?

Proposal: to propose to the 14th council meeting in December that the European Pirate Party shall elect 2 Spitzenkandidats for the 2024 European elections at the 15th Council meeting. Eligible for nominations are any Pirate running as a leading candidate for a Pirate Party in the European election, or, in the case of countries with no ranking on their lists to the European election, a Pirate running as a candidate for a Pirate Party in the election, where said party has formally decided to promote said candidate as “frontrunner”, or equivalent, in the elections. And to update the draft agenda for the Council meeting to better reflect that this decision will take place at the Council meeting.

Yes: Florian, Mikuláš, Cédric, Veronika, Jan, Alessandro, Petra, Mia
No:
Abstain:

2.2 Preparations of the January Council meeting

Background: As We have scheduled our 15th Council meeting to be held in Luxembourg in January next year, we need to start the preparations. Including preparing the formal invitation, that shall be sent out no later than December 27th.

2.2.1 Selecting a board member to be responsible for the event, including preparing a draft invitation that should be sent, at the latest, on December 30

Proposal: The board appoints Florian to be responsible for the preparations of the January Council meeting, including drafting the formal invitation email, and to come up with a proposal for the next board meeting for which tool(s) should be used for participation of remote delegates during the meeting

Yes: Florian, Cédric, Mikuláš, Alessandro, Mia, Petra, Veronika
No:
Abstain:

2.2.2 Confirmation of date and place

The Luxembourgish Pirates has confirmed that they are happy to help with the Council meeting in January, and confirmed that the dates are suitable.

Proposal: The board decides that the Council meeting shall take part on 27th of January 2024 in Luxembourg. To be followed by a ratification ceremony for the CEEP on 28th of January, also in Luxembourg.

Yes: Florian, Cédric, Jan, Alessandro, Mikuláš, Petra, Mia, Veronika,
No:
Abstain:

3. Discussions without decisions

4. AOB

Meeting closed at: 20:27 CET
Next meeting: Dec. 11th, 19:00 CET