Dear fellow pirates.
I apologize for sending this a bit late, but I figured that better late than never.
In the Swedish pirate party board discussion on the German proposal for a common EU programme the focus has not been so much about what we can add, but rather what we would need to remove to be able to support the document as a common Election Programme. As you know our political objectives are decided by the members at our online assemblies, and the board does not have a mandate to formulate new policy. That means that we are not able to support any texts that go beyond the scope set by the members of Piratpartiet.
As the German proposal is quite ambitious and expands into a lot of areas not commonly covered by pirate parties this means that we where forced to focus on what we would need to remove. I hope this in no regard is seen as us not being greatly appreciative of the work put down by our german colleagues.
As I will not be present at the conference in Athens I would appreciate if you could include our delegate Anton Nordenfur (anton.nordenfur@piratpartiet.se) in any replies sent to this email.
Below are the comments brought forward by the board of the Swedish Pirate Party. The parts that lack comments are in compliance with our policies and therefore supported by the Swedish Pirate Party.
Comments to the German proposal:
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.
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.
1.3.2: Security Research and Monitoring Software First paragraph might need some minor adjustment to fit our policies, the following paragraphs needs to be removed entirely.
1.3.3 European Data Protection Regulation With a High Level of Data Protection paragraph 1 & 2 are great, 3 is unfortunately also great, but have no support in our policies, so we cannot back it at this point. 4 & 5 is fine.
1.4 Refugee Policy Remove the call to dismantle Frontex. The rest is in accordance with our policies
1.5.2 Setting Up of a Mandatory Lobby Register at All European Levels remove entire paragraph
1.5.3 Tightening of the Rules on Transparency and Casual Earnings of MEPs remove entire paragraph
1.5.4 Introduction of Cooling-Off Periods for Top Politicians remove entire paragraph
1.5.5 Whistleblower Protection Law in Public Administration and in the Private Sector This is currently in line with a proposal at our GA that we believe will pass. So hopefully we will be able to support this. We will know in less than two weeks, so we can keep it for now while we wait for the outcome of the votes of our GA.
1.5.6 Transparency of Public Procurement Firs sentence is great, rest needs to be rephrased and less detailed.
1.7.2 Protect Net Neutrality EU-Wide Second paragraph would benefit from being adressed at a higher level of abstraction.
1.7.4 Free, Legally-Binding Digital Signatures and E-Mail Encryption for Everyone Needs to be rephrased if we want to keep it. I would suggest that you get in touch with our MEP Amelia who is currently working on the EU legislation on this.
1.11, 1.12 & 1.13 agricultural policy, social policy and economic and financial policy Remove everything on agricultural policy, social policy and economic and financial policy.
1.14.1.3 Privatisations only after a Referendum remove paragraph
1.14.1.5 Social and Ecological Standards remove paragraph
1.14.1.6 Trade Agreements Between Trading Partners With Huge Economic Disparities remove paragraph
1.15 Energy Policy remove “PIRATES defend the agreed climate goals of the EU. Successful reduction of global warming gases will only be possible with a mix of energy efficiency, an improved system for emissions trading at the European level, and strong support for renewable energy. We favor stronger cooperation and joint investments into the European energy infrastructure” from second paragraph and rewrite the rest.
remove “Transparent pricing and disclosure of the mix of energy sources is a prerequisite for a functional, consumer-controlled energy market. Only then, European consumers can take informed decisions what and where to buy - according to their individual preferences. ” from third paragraph.
remove fourth paragraph entirely.
1.16 Traffic Policy & 1.17 Drugs and Addiction Policy remove it all.
We have not had the time to look at the Czech proposal yet, but I hope that we will have the time before the meeting starts on saturday.
Best regards,
Mab