Minutes
Meeting 9 of the 8th PPEU board 11.12.2023, 19:00 CET/18:00 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: 19:03
Meeting chaired by: Veronika
Secretary for this meeting: Alessandro and Florian
Recording: will be put online after the meeting
Pad: https://etherpad.pp-international.net/p/Board8Meeting9
RoP: https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/rules-of-procedure-for-the-board
Participants:
VC: Veronika Murzynová
TR: Alessandro Ciofini
BM: Florian Roussel
BM: Mia Utz
BM: Petra Kovačec
Excused:
C: Mikuláš Peksa
Not excused:
VC: Cédric Levieux
BM: Elísabet Ólafsdóttir
BM: Jan Mareš
Guests:
Mattias Bjärnemalm, Pirate Parties Network Officer
Maija Raudaskoski, Pirate Parties network intern
Thomas Gaul
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_08
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 Donation strategy for PPEU
2.2 Preparations for the 15th Council meeting
2.3 Relationship Agreement with the Greens/EFA Group
3. Discussions without decisions
3.1 Last minute updates for the 14th Council meeting
4. Any other business
4.1 14th Council Meeting Preparations - Public broadcast and online participation tool
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
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Minutes:
0.1 Election of meeting chair
The meeting elected Vernonika Murzynová as meeting chair by common agreement
0.2 Election of meeting Secretary
The meeting elected Florian + Alessandro as meeting secretary and agreed that we would work collectively on the minutes in the pad
0.3. Approval of the agenda:
Yes: Florian, Alessandro, Petra, Mia, Veronika
No:
Abstain:
0.4. Approval of the minutes of the last meetings
Yes: Alessandro, Petra, Florian, Mia, Veronika
No:
Abstain:
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.
Nothing to be confirmed
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).
Florian : Helped on the 15th Council Meeting things. Location is decided, catering should follow, we have a few accomodation options.
It seems that there is a travel scheme being thought of, combining a Brussels EU Parliament visit with the Council Meeting to lower travel costs for everyone.
Agenda is still pretty simple and will depend on how the 14th Council Meeting develops. Invitation still to be drafted but will most likely reuse the previous models.
8th of Decembre European Campaign was great and underlines the need for PPEU to allow closer, deeper and more sustained cooperation between every member, making me think we still have a lot of work ahead to provide such an environment.
1. Decisions without discussions
1.1 Time and place for next board meeting
Scheduled Thursday 11th of January 2024 18:30-19:30
Common board agreement to keep it like this.
2. Decisions with discussions
2.1 Donation strategy for PPEU
Alessandro : Discussing with board of the opportunity to create an easy way to collect donations (https://opencollective.com/ppeu). The board raised the question of the policy wrt these donations. Discussed with Florian to have an eye on Luxembourgish restrictions (and European political parties regulations in preparation to PPEU getting the status in the future, using this : https://europam.eu/?module=country-profile&country=Luxembourg and https://europam.eu/?module=country-profile&country=European%20Union. Very simple policy : restrict to individuals (no companies and organizations excluding the members ???), up to 12k€/year (single or cumulated occurences) no specific control on the donation, report donations above 12k€/year and investigate further on the source. Board would have the power to refund and refuse any donation.
Veronika : Is there smth regarding individual donations in the statutes ?
Alessandro : Nothing linked to a donation policy.
Veronika : It was about if the board should explicitely states that we allow individual donations and that they should be made on a specific platform with a definite set of rules ? The proposal looks great as well as the OpenCollective choice accessible to everyone. Will you establish a formal proposal for this for the Council ?
ThomasG : Pls consider an upper limit for donations.
Alessandro : We don't but there are already technical limitations (debit/credit cards ceilings).
Proposal to be presented at 14th Council Meeting (16th of December 2023)
Add point 3c to the next CM Agenda: “Donations policy”
Yes: Petra, Florian, Alessandro, Veronika, Mia,
No:
Abstain:
2.2 Preparations for the 15th Council meeting
Reminder:
Statutes Art. 17 - Election of the Board Members
(1) Each candidate must be nominated by an Ordinary Member.
(2) All nominations must specify the particular post for which the candidate is being proposed (i.e. Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Treasurer or a Board Member without a special function). Each Ordinary Member may nominate and support several candidates.
(3) All nominations shall be done at least a month prior to the meeting at which the election takes place.
Mab : We should mainly settle on the agenda since it is the last meeting before sending out the invitation and the agenda. There might be other things to discuss (nomination reminders…). MEPs will discuss if they should have a visitors group the monday after the Council Meeting on the 12/12/2023. Rules might be changing and require specific attention FYI.
Veronika : When will we know for sure if the visitor's group is to be done ?
Mab : Tommorow (12/12/2023) but after that we will need to have a look at the rules. Happy to help but you might need someone responsible for this visit.
Veronika : We need someone to keep in touch wrt to this visit.
Mab : From what I know of the rules, the group leader is allowed to visit before the group.
Alessandro : Question about 2.c) Decision on Membership status of IT-partiet in Norway (change of names of Member party), in 2.b)Information about lapsed Memberships we will be discussing if some parties are still member and PP-NO (now IT-Partiet) is one of them so maybe their removal from members will nullify the need to have 2.c) in the agenda.
Mab : Board should discuss the name change per the statutes ence the presence of the point.
Veronika : Given that a certain number of Board Member are absent I don't think we shouldn't decide here who's responsible for the visitor's group but we could do it on the Mattermost. Don't think we need more lay auditors.
Alessandro : We have 3 lay auditors for a three year mandate term (2023-2026). No problem on lay auditor stuff.
Proposal:
To adopt the following agenda for the 15th Council meeting:
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. Membership issues
a) Approval of New Members
b) Information about lapsed Memberships
c) Decision on Membership status of IT-partiet in Norway (change of names of Member party)
3. Decisions and discussions
a) Update on the ratification of the Common European Election Program (CEEP) and the Common Pirate Strategy (CPS) for the 2024 European Elections. See overview here .
b) 2024 European Parliament Elections.
b1) Election of Pirate lead candidates For the Upcoming elections. Only if this proposal was adopted at the 14th Council meeting
4. Finances and discharge
a) 2023 Annual Accounts.
b) Code of Conduct Council report
c) Discharge of the 2023 Board
5. Elections of the European Pirate Party Board
a) Chair
b) Vice Chairs
c) Treasurer
d) Ordinary Board Members
6. Elections of the Code of Conduct Council
7. Closing of the meeting
a) AOB
b) Final greetings
Yes: Alessandro, Petra, Florian, Veronika, Mia,
No:
Abstain:
Florian : We should discuss the online participation method as well as the public broadcast method. French Pirates also have the capability to do this if Pirates on Air is not available.
Alessandro : Doesn't need to go through the board and meetings, a task force is already in charge of organizing this.
Veronika : Can we confirm that Pirates on Air will be available for the 14th and the 15th Council Meetings?
Mab: there is no confirmation at now. We will go for it shortly
Florian : I will follow up on these issues with the task group and the technical people.
2.3 Relationship Agreement with the Greens/EFA Group
Background:
In the European elections 2009, 2014 and 2019 the European Pirate Parties ran without any formal Group affiliation. After each election, the elected Pirates have then proceeded to negotiate with different political Groups about which Group to join. The Groups get resources and power based on their size (and to some extend national diversity), so they have an incentive to accept new members, even if they come from parties not affiliated to the European Political Parties around which the traditional Groups are formed. At the same time, the elected MEPs gets visibility and resources from their Groups, giving them incentive to join one Group or the other.
Christian Engström, the Swedish Pirate that got elected in 2009, negotiated primarily with ALDE and Greens/EFA, choosing Greens/EFA being advised to do so by civil society activists and the party leadership at home. As part of joining the Greens/EFA the arrangement included one dedicated staffer for the pirates. This deal did not change when the Swedish Pirates got their second MEP, Amelia Andersdotter, at the end of 2011 as a consequence of the enlargement of the EP following the Lisbon treaty.
Felix Reda, the German Pirate that was elected in 2014, negotiated mainly with Greens/EFA and GUE, with an aim to remain in Greens/EFA. The agreement included one staffer for the pirates. Felix was also elected to the Bureau of the Group, but this was outside of the deal struck about Group membership.
Our current Pirate delegation of four MEPs, elected in 2019, primarily negotiated with the Greens/EFA about membership, relying on the well functioning relationship already established with this Group. The agreement included two staffers for the pirates, and a VIP position in the EP for the head of the Pirate Delegation. This deal was later changed to three staffers in 2022. Halfway through this mandate the current delegation started looking into an more stable relationship agreement between the Greens/EFA Group and the European Pirate Party. With the aim of getting similar status within the Group as that of EFA. The
Reasons for an agreement between the Pirates and the Greens/EFA Group
The reasons the Greens/EFA Group has to strike a deal with the European Pirate party is simple, it secures our long-term stay in the Group, increasing the size and political influence of the Group. The main reason against an agreement from the Group side is that it conflicts with the identity of the Group, which, largely, self identifies as a Green Group, with a handful of individual MEPs attached, where they are either considered green enough, or irrelevant for the greater identity of the Group. In this view, the EFA part of the Group is considered an historical anomaly that usually get ignored.
The benefits for the Pirates with having a deal before the elections would mainly be clarity on resources and a visible separate identity within the Group. But also a quicker start of the work of the delegation inside the Group (no need to wait for approval to join), and clarity in communication in the time running up to the election.
Proposal:
The Board decides to recommend the member parties to approve the relationship agreement between the Greens/EFA Group and the European Pirate Party
Yes: Alessandro, Florian, Veronika, Petra, Mia
No:
Abstain:
3. Discussions without decisions
3.1 Last minute updates for the 14th Council meeting
* Mikulas is double booked, might not be there for the entire meeting. But will be there to open the meeting, and try to participate in key discussions.
* We need to find people who can volunteer to chair the meeting, and take the minutes.
- potential chairs: Giuseppe Calandra, Veronika Murzynová
- potential minute takers: Petra Kovacec
* very few parties has registered their delegates for the meeting. Delegates can be registered here: https://discourse.european-pirateparty.eu/t/delegates-present-at-the-14th-council-meeting/539/
* Mikulas is encouraged to send a last minute reminder about the meeting (Mab will help draft it)
* Pirates on Air has graciously offered to stream the meeting.
* The board need to be prepared to look at the response from the Czech pirates on CEEP.
4. AOB
4.1 14th Council Meeting Preparations - Public broadcast and online participation tool
Jitsi (see wiki) + Pirates on Air are okay to stream the meeting.
Votes in discourse
Mab will organize the voting and the dedicated threads/messages with the agenda.
Meeting closed at: 20:08 CET
Next meeting: 11-01-2024, 18:30 CET