PIRATES demand the convocation of a constituent assembly (Constitutional Convention) for the European Union. The aim of the Constitutional Convention will be to restructure the political system of the EU and its relations to the member states and regions, thus establishing a truly democratic foundation. The process to create this must be transparent and include the European citizens in a comprehensive manner. The members of this assembly are to be elected democratically and should represent the cultural diversity of the Union. All citizens will then hold a vote on the compiled draft of the constitution across the Union at the same time. PIRATES also demand that citizens should be able to take part in votes all over the EU, in order to influence European legislation. They should be able to suggest changes to legislation or stop European laws in the making by means of a “citizens' initiative”. This European Citizens' Initiative must be easy to use and free of charge. Changes in EU- contracts or the constitution of the EU may only come into effect if a majority of EU-citizens approve in a simultaneous vote across the EU. The EU-executive must see to it that these votes can be conducted even on short notice. The present EU legislation is dominated by the executive branch / the European Commission / at the expense of the legislative / the European Parliament. PIRATES demand to readjust the separation of powers, favoring the legislative branch. Therefore, the initiative- and decision- making power of the European Parliament should be broadened.

We PIRATES stipulate that in all negotiations of the European Union on trade agreements the following conditions which are consistent with our principles and convictions will be met:

We will campaign for the need for consent of the European Parliament in trade policy instead of just a consultation right. Trade agreements contain political decisions that are important and difficult to change. Therefore the only democratically legitimated body in the EU needs to have equal rights as the European Commission in trade policy.

The European Parliament via its Committee on International Trade (INTA) shall participate as an equal partner of the European Commission in negotiations of trade agreements.

The European Parliament needs to be informed right from the start and comprehensively about the state and the strategy of negotiations.

All documents concerning the negotiations of a trade agreement have to be made available to the European Parliament as well as the public. All negotiations and hearings of stakeholders shall be conducted in the public eye. We demand that all results of the consultations, especially submissions by stakeholders, shall be published.

Instead of exerting pressure to privatise public services through trade agreements, any decision about such privatisations shall be left to the direct democratic control of the people. We PIRATES object to any privatisations which derive solely from trade agreements and demand that for such a decision a referendum shall be mandatory. (…)

• Possibility of removal from office of directly elected representatives by petition with signatures of voters. As for the indirectly elected authorities, the citizens should have the right to declare snap elections by petition.

• Citizens' legislative initiative which gives citizens opportunities to present petitions with new law proposals. This can protect those citizens' interests that are ignored by political parties. The Parliament or local government has to address the petition proposal and if they don't meet its requirements within one year, the decision will be made in a referendum. Modifications of the Constitution will be possible only through citizens' initiative in order to eliminate special interest modifications repeatedly attempted by politicians.

• Binding referenda at state-level, regional-level and municipality-level to decide on citizens' initiatives or principal issues proposed by the Parliament (international agreements, memberships in international organizations, military bases etc.). The government will not be allowed to endorse any a priori positions.

PROPOSAL 1: Removal of unjustified barriers [Citizen participation and Open Government]

We PIRATES want a larger and more direct participation of the citizens in the policy debate and decision making process, both individually and collectively. We therefore demand the removal of unjustified barriers to the participation of new political parties that exist in some EU Member States, such as the requirement of collecting a certain number of signatures in order to stand for election.

PROPOSAL 13: Better citizen direct participation [Citizen participation and Open Government]

We, the European Pirates, want a common normative for Citizen Initiatives at local, regional, national and European levels. We want initiatives that can modify constitutions, laws, etc. always bound by referendum.

Digital identity. The fundamental prerequisite for the e-government is a working identity verification system for Internet communication with public administration. One of the available options will be an e-ID with e-signature made free of charge.

1.2 Democracy Add-on for Europe The first part talks about a Convention in a very detailed way that contradicts the model that the Swedish Pirate party has decided to support. We would like to suggest that we change the text to something more abstract rather than giving a detailed sollution on the how.

The second part talks about citizens initiative, and that part does not fit with our policies as they are today and needs to be removed entirely.

The third part talks about the distribution of power between the different institutions and here we are generally agreeing with the text but want the last sentence removed.

1.14.1.3 Privatisations only after a Referendum remove paragraph