Common Pirate Strategy (CPS)
A. Political cooperation
- All elected Pirate MEPs will form a joint Pirate delegation in the European Parliament.
- Other MEPs can apply to the PPEU Board to be allowed to join the Pirate delegation. The Pirate delegation shall consider the recommendation from the PPEU Board before admitting such members
- Members of the Pirate delegation shall uphold the 2024 Common European Election Programme and Common Pirate Strategy for the European Parliament.
- The Pirate delegation shall be based on internal democracy and strive for consensus around common solutions for all decisions taken. If a common solution can not be found, the delegation shall respect differences of opinion and consider the national political context involved. External representation of the delegation shall be united and present the Pirates as a single, strong movement.
- Unless the European Pirate Party Council has approved a pre-election agreement between the European Pirate Party and an existing political Group, the Pirate delegation shall strive to form a Pirate political group in the European Parliament together with other parties and movements close to the Pirates. If this is not feasible, the Pirate delegation shall, as a whole, take into consideration the recommendation of the European Pirate Party Board and apply to join one of the existing political groups. The Pirate delegation will only join a political group if it is democratic and supports freedom, progress, and positive European solutions to common problems. Pirates will never join a political group that includes parties and movements with agenda including racism, xenophobia, or the suppression of human rights.
- The Pirate delegation shall elect a Chairperson among its members. The vote shall take into consideration the experience of the individual member, as well as voters’ support in the election.
- The Pirate delegation shall firmly oppose xenophobic, nationalist, and racist ideals.
- The Pirate delegation shall coordinate its political activities with the Board and the Council of the European Pirate Party. The delegation shall represent all the members of the European Pirate Parties and take their interests into account.
- The Pirate delegation in the European Parliament shall cooperate with any representatives of the European Pirate Party and its member parties elected into other assemblies.
B. Transparency
- Pirate Members of the European Parliament shall uphold the ethical rules of the European Parliament, such as those on the disclosure of meetings, income and donations.
- Pirate members shall publish all their expenses from the General Expenditure Allowance, as well as corresponding invoices, in a single unified form.
- Overview of all Pirate employees and contractors hired from the parliamentary assistance budget, as well as through Group resources, shall be made public. The general framework for remuneration shall be published while respecting individual privacy.
- The calendar of the scheduled activities for each Pirate MEP shall be public.
- The Pirate delegation shall continue managing the existing OpenRequest or deploy similar software to collect requests and feedback from citizens across Europe.
- The Pirate delegation shall regularly report on its activities to the European Pirate Party Council meetings and through its communication channels.
- The Pirate delegation shall promote transparency in the European Parliament, aiming for all decisions to be taken by Roll-Call-Votes. The Pirates shall, in particular, strive to ensure that any vote on elected representatives within the institution, as well as any votes on the rules of the Parliament, be taken by Roll-Call-Votes.
C. Organization rules of Pirate delegation
- The Pirate delegation shall use open-source software for its operations whenever possible. The Pirate delegation shall avoid proprietary platforms such as Google Docs in its operations. Any technical solution shall respect the privacy of its users.
- The working language of the Pirate delegation is English. The Pirates strive for openness and plurality, independently of nationality.
- Any employment positions shall be filled through a fair and open recruitment process. Openings shall be published in English through the communication channels of the European Pirate Party. Internal transfers within the delegation between two equivalent positions, prolongations of existing contracts, promotions in grade within the same type of contracts, as well as rehiring of staff to positions they have held previously, may be exempt from these rules, as long as this complies with all applicable parliamentary rules.
- The Pirate delegation shall consider previous experience working for the Pirate delegation or other Pirate organisations as an advantage in the hiring process. The Pirates firmly refuse nepotism and clientelism in any form.
- The Pirate delegation shall strive to be a progressive employer by supporting modern work organisation methods, e.g. remote work, flexible work hours, and part-time contracts. The Pirates support equal opportunities and the inclusion of young people into politics.
- The Pirate delegation, and its Members, shall refuse to take unpaid trainees in their offices.
- The Pirate delegation shall maintain a network of pan-European volunteers who can contribute with valuable input and support the delegation’s work.
- The Pirates strongly oppose harassment in any form. The Pirates stand against any form of discrimination based on sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age, or sexual orientation.
- The Pirate delegation may adopt further internal rules and guidelines for the functioning of the delegation.