Today's European Union as a supranational institution is a project of its member states rather than of its citizens. PIRATES hold the opinion that the future of Europe ought to be organised on the common interests of all European citizens, rather than the special interests of a single member state. Therefore all PIRATES in the European Union have adopted this election programme and strive together to make our vision of the European Union reality. The democratic deficit within the European Union has existed since the beginning and has not sufficiently been addressed in the course of the integration process. The primary goal of all PIRATES will be to fix this and to build a solid democratic foundation for the European Union. In order to achieve that goal it will be crucial to design political processes that are more citizen-friendly and to create a common European cultural space. Political decisions at European level need to be preceded by Europe-wide debates - allowing for adequate participation of all. Without equal, non-discriminating communication adequate participation will not come into existence; hence, no proper decisions representing the general public interest may be taken. The internet as a new sphere of communication offers tremendous opportunities, providing the possibility for political development, helping to overcome political top-down, one-way communication, and breaking the dominance of the mass media. PIRATES will therefore defend the freedom of the internet with fierce determination at the European level as well as on the global scale.

1.1 Preamble The preamble needs to be rewritten in such a way that it does not portray the interests of the member states and European interests as inherently opposed to each other.

It should also change “The primary goal of all PIRATES will be to fix this and to build a solid democratic foundation for the European Union.” as this is primarily done by the counsil, ie the member states, and not the European Parliament. It also puts that objective before all other pirate objectives, such as copyright reform and changing the patent system. And we are not convinced that such a priority would be in line with the will of our members. A possible sollution would be to use the phrase “A goal of all PIRATES…..”

We would also need a clarification what “common European cultural space” and why that should be something created by the European parliament rather than bottom up from the people.