Meeting 2 of the 9th PPEU board 21.3.2024, 18:30 CET/17:30 UTC
Meeting is remote: https://jitsi.pirati.cz/PPEU-Board
Members of the Board
C: Mikuláš Peksa
VC: Veronika Murzynová
VC: Anja Hirschel
TR: Alessandro Ciofini
BM: Giuseppe Calandra (cal)
BM: Florian Roussel
BM: Jan Mareš
BM: Sara Hjalmarsson
BM: Petra Kovačec
Standing invitations
Mattias Bjärnemalm, Pirate Parties Network Officer
Meeting opened at: 18:34
Meeting extended until 20:00
Meeting chaired by: Sara
Secretary for this meeting: Jan
Recording: https://owncloud.ag-technik.de/s/2AQMWABi6NNy87j
Pad: https://etherpad.pp-international.net/p/Board9MeetingX
RoP: https://wiki.ppeu.net/doku.php?id=documents:rop2023
Participants:
C: Mikuláš Peksa
VC: Veronika Murzynová (left 19:10)
VC: Anja Hirschel
TR: Alessandro Ciofini
BM: Florian Roussel
BM: Jan Mareš
BM: Sara Hjalmarsson
BM: Giuseppe Calandra (cal) (joined 19:50)
Excused:
BM: Petra Kovačec
Not excused:
Guests:
Mattias Bjärnemalm, Pirate Parties Network Officer
Marco Confalonieri, Pirati
PiratesOnAir
Bastian
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-meeting09_01
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 Bringing the Board to Brussels
2.2 Next Council Meeting
2.3 European Pirates list in the European Parliament elections in Italy
2.4 Donations policy.
3. Discussions without decisions
3.1 Draft PPEU calendar for the second part of the year
3.2 Membership situation for Piratenpartei Schweiz
3.3 Correspondence by email with the Board
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 Sara as meeting chair by consensus
0.2 Election of meeting Secretary
The meeting elected Jan as meeting secretary by consensus and agreed that we would work collectively on the minutes in the pad
0.3. Approval of the agenda:
Vote in Discourse: https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/9th-board-2nd-meeting-votes/645/2
Agenda approved
0.4. Approval of the minutes of the last meetings
Minutes from the last meeting can be found here: https://wiki.ppeu.net/doku.php?id=pp-eu:board-meeting09_01
Vote in Discourse: https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/9th-board-2nd-meeting-votes/645/3
Minutes approved
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 had been taken between board meetings.
0.6 Written reports
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).
0.6.1 Florian
Worked on the donation proposal. Got started on a candidate/party pledge review systems to green-light pledges received from ngos in view of the elections. It will be ready soon. Veronika and I are waiting on the bank to answer of what to do to have Alessandro having control. Close to concluding a legal framework review for PPEU and a potential affiliated political foundation. Translating the framework into English. Will update PPEU statutes afterwards. Drafting a compliance manual (tasks to do every year and procedures to follow). Task handover stalled due to a lack of feedback from the board.
0.6.1 Mattias Bjärnemalm - Pirate Parties network officer
I have been visiting Budapest to talk to the leadership and top candidates for the EU election from MKKP, our Hungarian Observer Member. They had previously taken a decision to stay non-affiliated with any Group after the election, but reached out to discuss the posibility of them changing this position. So I travelled to visit them to advice on their different options. After my visit they decided to reverse their previous decision and to look into the possibility to be part of the Pirate delegation in the Greens/EFA Group after the elections. Hopefully they will take this decision in mid April, after visiting us for a fact finding mission to Brussels on 11-12 April.
- I have helped the Pirate delegation in the EP get the Group moving regarding the Visibility clause in the relationship agreement. Hopefully it should soon be visible on the Group webpage that the pirates are a separate subgroup within the Group.
- I have given advice to Pirati on how to best find candidates for the Italian pirate list for the upcoming EU elections.
1. Decisions without discussions
1.1 Time and place for next board meeting
This will be decided as part of point 2.1 below.
2. Decisions with discussions
2.1 Bringing the Board to Brussels
At the last meeting we discussed holding an in person board meeting in Brussels in the middle of June, to give the board a chance to also meet all pirate MEPs on the Friday, 14th of June. There's a pad set up to prepare this event, where all board members are encourage to write when they will arrive and depart from Brussels. This pad can be found here: https://etherpad.pp-international.net/p/Board9Meeting3preparations
Decisions that needs to be taken:
* What do we do while in Brussels, and who is responsible for the preparations?
* Do we have any Money we want to allocate to this event? (this could be to cover travel, accomodation and food of participants)
AH: I think it's a good idea (to hold this event)
MAB: Asks about finances for this proposal
AC: Board can finance, but only limited amount, maybe not for everyone.
SH: Are there any other options?
MAB: It's up to MEPs
AH: MEPs are not officially confirmed until July
MP: This means MEPs have no (or almost no) budget for this
AC: (in chat) There is a 1000 Euro emergency budget chapter. (https://wiki.ppeu.net/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=documents:2024_budget.pdf)
AC: Budget was approved in December, there is a budget chapter for Board Emergency Expenses allocated for 2024
MAB: A sign up chart for the Council Meeting, members should book travel and accom. now with Free cancelation option. Budget TBD. https://etherpad.pp-international.net/p/Board9Meeting3preparations
Proposal:
* The Board shall organize its next meeting in person in Brussels on 16th of June.
* It shall be combined with an event 14-15 of June to get to know the new MEPs, organized by the Pirate delegation.
* Mab is tasked with checking with the Pirate delegation if the Group has money to cover costs related to the event on 14-15th of June.
* The Board will use the Emergency expenses budget line to cover any travel to the board meeting that cannot be covered in other ways.
Vote in Discourse: https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/9th-board-2nd-meeting-votes/645/7
Motion approved
2.2 Next Council Meeting
To be able to properly debrief the European Elections it would make sense to hold an online Council meeting shortly after the elections. Looking at the calendar a possible date would be Sunday 23rd of June.
Proposal:
To call a Council meeting to be held on 2024-06-23 at 11:00 online, and to delegate to the Chair to send out the invitation. The meeting shall have the following agenda:
1. Meeting administration
a) Opening of the meeting and registration of delegates
b) Welcoming remarks from the European Pirate Party chair
c) Election of meeting chairs and minute takers
d) Approval of the agenda
2. Decisions and discussions
a) Membership applications
b) Debrief of the 2024 European Parliament Elections.
b1) Country by Country presentation of results
b2) Pirate delegation in the European Parliament
c) Opening for applications to host a physical meeting for the Next Council meeting
3. Closing of the meeting
a) AOB
b) Final greetings
AH: The date is very close to the Board meeting in Brussels.
MAB: It should be mainly a debrief after elections. Board can add Agenda last minute during the Board Meeting
Vote in Discourse: https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/9th-board-2nd-meeting-votes/645/9
Motion Approved
2.3 European Pirates list in the European Parliament elections in Italy
Background:
See background information here: https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/9th-board-2nd-meeting-2-3-european-pirates-list-in-the-european-parliament-elections-in-italy/644
MP: Pirati.io can still deliver their list until 31.3. so it can be reviewed.
MP: Some changes can still happen after 31.3. with respect to the Italian law.
MP will take over the chair for a while
MP: Pirati.io can send their proposal, Partita Pirata should also have a chance, so the deadline for Pirati.io should be 29.3.
MAB: Proposes to vote
SH is now chairing back
Proposal:
The Board implores Pirati.io to urgently provide a proposal for a list, no lo later than 29th of March.
Vote in Discourse: https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/9th-board-2nd-meeting-votes/645/10
Motion approved
2.4 Donations scheme
Background:
At the last board meeting the board decided that: “with the help of Florian, Alessandro should look into how we can set up a donation scheme in line with Luxembourgish laws, and based on this prepare a report and a decision for the next board meeting.”
Proposal: Adopt this (https://nextcloud.pp-eu.eu/index.php/s/kwHCa3wdasrwPLz) without the parts between brackets while entrusting Alessandro with complementing it as the technical implementation goes through.
Vote will be postponed in async mode due to lack of time
Point 3 will be discussed in Discourse
3. Discussions without decisions
3.1 Draft PPEU calendar for the second part of the year
While we agreed to only decide on the actual calendar for the rest of the year at our in person meeting. So below is a first draft that can be discussed, so that we have a proper proposal ready for the board meeting in June.
Draft agenda:
* 23 June - Council meeting (online)
* 4 July Board meeting
* 11 September - Deadline for Member parties to apply to host the November Council Meeting
* 12 September - Board meeting
* 17 October - Board meeting (deciding on the agenda for the November Council meeting)
* 14 November - Board meeting
* 24 November - Council meeting (tbc, can be moved to 23-24 Nov, 30 Nov-1 Dec, or 7-8 Dec if hosted by Member party, to acommodate their needs)
* 11 December - Deadline for Member parties to apply to host the February Council Meeting
* 12 December - Board meeting
* 16 January - Board meeting (deciding on the agenda for Feb Council meeting)
* 13 February - Board meeting
* 22 February - Council meeting (tbc, can be moved to 21-22 Feb, or 28 Feb-1 March if hosted by Member party, to acommodate their needs)
3.2 Membership situation for Piratenpartei Schweiz
The Swiss pirates failed to pay their PPEU memberships for 2022 and 2023 in time, and as a consequence their membership automatically lapsed at the beginning of this year, in accordance with the statutes of the organisation. Since then they have paid these overdue Membership fees, as well as what is intended as their 2024 fee.
Going through old communication with them it seems that they had technical problems with their payment in previous years, with their bank refusing to accept that the PPEU Iban was from a Czech bank while the PPEU address is in Luxembourg. They reached out to us about this problem already in early 2023, but due to some issues with the handover from one PPEU Treasurer to the next we failed to follow up on this in time.
So right now the situation is that we have a Swiss Pirate party that wants to be a member and who has paid all old fees they owned us, and a board and Member parties who wants them as Members. However, the statutes give us no room for flexibility here, since they didn't pay on time, they are unfortunately not currently a Member organisation.
A possible solution to this problem would be to have our chair write to them to apologize for the lack of follow up on our side when they reported their payments problem in 2023, and to invite them to reapply for membership before our next Council meeting.
3.3 Correspondence by email with the Board
There seems to be (at least) 3 problems with the Board emails: * The first, and least, is that the current Rules of Procedure for the board states that emails to the board should be sent to “pp-eu.board.private@lists.european-pirateparty.eu.”, but the correct mailinglist is “pp-eu.board@lists.european-pirateparty.eu”. The solution to this seems to be to update the RoP. * The board email listed on the webpage under contacts is board@european-pirateparty.eu. After checking with IT it has been clear that the address sends to a previous board. This will need to be sorted. * The third, and most important problem, is that the Board don't have any procedure for replying to emails. In short, while the RoP state that the Board must answer emails from PPEU members and their members, there is no individual tasked to make sure that this happens. And as a result it does not happen. There is also no one responsible for the archiving on Discourse that is also required by the RoP.
4. AOB
Meeting closed at: 20:07 CET
Next meeting: 16/06/2024, Brussels - TBD