Board of the European Pirate Party - Rules of Procedure
adopted by board meeting 19-10-2023.
Preamble
We as the Board are against any comments, actions or propaganda that encourages discrimination related to gender, gender expression, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, sexual characteristics, physical appearance, disability, or age.
We want to foster cooperation and initiative among Pirates and like-minded activists.
We will hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards in our tasks, actions and management, always striving to push ahead.
§ 1 Board meetings
Every board meeting shall respect our Code of Conduct. ppeu:cocc2020 [PPEU wiki]
§1.1 Regular Board meetings
Regular Board meetings should take place at least once a month.
At the start of each meeting the date and time of the next meeting or at least the methods of determining the date and time and the person responsible for it will be chosen by the Board. In case the Board takes no such decision, the same person in charge of this task for the last meeting will be in charge of that task for the next meeting, following the same procedure.
§ 1.2 Extraordinary Board Meetings
Extraordinary meetings may be called by any member of the Board for time sensitive matters. They must follow the same regulations as regular Board meetings unless impossible.
Specifically the provisionnal agenda must be published and communicated as soon as possible even if impossible to comply with the regular 24 hours usual requirement.
Items may be proposed to the agenda until the meeting date and time without a 6 hours deadline if the provisionnal agenda was published less than 24 hours before the meeting date and time.
§ 1.3 Agenda
The provisional agenda of the regular Board meetings shall be published ideally as soon as the next board meeting date and time are known or at least 24 hours before the meeting by announcement to the coordinators designated by the PPEU members and to the Board.
The provisional agenda should be published on the Discourse in a dedicated category : 8th PPEU Board > Board Meetings > Dedicated folder for the board meeting (labelled “[number of the meeting] Meeting of the 8th PPEU Board”). It should be published in a subject using the following formalism : “[number of the meeting] Meeting of the 8th PPEU Board - Agenda”. The provisional agenda must be sent to Council members with a link redirecting to its publication on the Discourse.
Any Board member may add regular items to the provisional agenda by either sending an email to the Board and designated coordinators or sending a message on the Discourse thread at least 6 hours before the scheduled meeting time. Every member of the PPEU and their members may propose an agenda item to the Board following the same procedure.
Any item proposed in time by a Board member, the international coordinator or the delegate of a PPEU member has to be considered by the Board. Items which were added by other persons or after the deadline may be considered by the Board at its own discretion. New items to the agenda may be brought in during the meeting. They may be discussed together with a related item already on the agenda, or at the end of the agenda. The Board may postpone any item on the agenda to the next Board meeting. The agenda shall be tailored and approved at the beginning of the Board meeting with a simple majority vote of the Board members.
§ 1.4 Publicity
The Board meetings are public, unless the Board votes in favour of a non-public meeting. The decision to hold a non-public meeting has to be motivated and justified in respect of the spirit of the Statutes or the Manifesto and the current Code of Conduct. Such a decision may be adopted at any time.
The two following measures are used to make board meetings public, they don’t have to be simultaneously applied :
- The Board meetings are broadcasted on its youtube channel
- Guests are allowed to join the board’s meeting room. They may be allowed to speak if approved to do so by the chairperson specifically on subjects of interest (they are here to defend an item on the agenda, or information they posess or their assistance is needed at some point for example). Else, they should stay passive. Guests that disrupt or corrupt the meeting can be moderated (restricted or excluded from the meeting) by the chairperson. The Board may decide to exclude or not host guests in the Board meeting’s room on reasonable grounds following a simple majority vote of the Board members.
§ 1.5 Procedure
At the beginning of each meeting a chairperson and one or more secretaries will be appointed. The tasks of the chairperson and the secretary can be transferred during the meeting. The secretary of the meeting will write the minutes of the meeting. The chairperson of the meeting moderates the discussions and makes sure the rules of procedure are respected.
The date and time of the next board meeting should be decided shortly after the chairperson and secretaries are appointed and before the main items are examined. The decision may be postponed until the end of the meeting.
§ 1.6 Meeting minutes
The minutes of the meeting should be published as soon as possible and their approval will be automatically added to the agenda of each next meeting until approved by the Board. The person named by the Board, or if no such person was named, the Secretary of the meeting, is responsible for publishing the meeting minutes on the PPEU wiki and Discourse in the following category : “8th PPEU Board Meetings” in a subject titled with the following formalism : “[number of the meeting] Meeting of the 8th PPEU Board - Minutes”.
The minutes of the meeting are resolution minutes and contain the wording of motions and resolutions that have been voted or decided on. The decisions of the Board that have not been taken by unanimity or consensus are written together with the detail of each Board member’s vote. The minutes shall also contain the tasks agreed upon and the person responsible to execute them and the due date. To publish any other parts of the Board meetings is left to the discretion of the person responsible for publishing them. In case of a non-public meeting the minutes contain instead the motivated resolution to have the non-public meeting as defined in these Rules of procedure. Any Board member can submit within 24 hours after the meeting a text with a personal statement for the minutes explaining his or her particular vote to a motion or resolution.
§ 2 Votes
The Board may take decisions in and out of Board Meetings, on any subject they would like to hold a vote on.
Only members of the Board are entitled to vote. Abstentions also count as votes, but with no effect on the result. Decisions are taken by a simple majority of Board members voting. This applies to all means of voting and potential decisions.
§ 2.1 Means of voting :
a - Inside Board Meetings
- Discourse by creating a poll on the “Votes” subject placed under the 8th PPEU Board category. The subject should be created using the following formalism : “[number of the meeting] Meeting of the 8th PPEU Board - Votes”
- Postal votes sent by mail to boardvotes@european-pirateparty.eu citing the item on which the vote is being cast. If the board member can’t be present at the meeting. They may submit their vote in advance although the board members inside the meeting may modify the agenda which could nullify the need for a vote.
- Submitting their vote in the textual or vocal chat of the Board Meeting (it is possible to hold roll call votes)
If the board member can’t be present at the meeting. They may submit their vote in advance either in the minutes or through email although the board members inside the meeting may modify the agenda which could nullify the need for a vote.
b - Outside of Board Meetings
- Discourse by creating a poll on the “Votes” thread placed under the 8th PPEU Board category.
- Postal votes sent by mail to boardvotes@european-pirateparty.eu citing the item on which the vote is being cast, and the vote.
§ 2.2 Duration of the votes :
a - Inside Board Meetings
Enough time for every present board member to vote
b - Outside of Board Meetings
Votiing remains open for durations ranging from 48 hours to one week after the voting has been opened.
§ 3 Tasks
Each Board member will be responsible for certain tasks that need to be done to run the organization. Who will be responsible for which task can be decided through various means : through vote or common agreement on messaging systems, in person, or in board meetings. Best practice would be to only vote if there are disagreements or if the tasks are sensitive. Everyone is free to explore options and new projects as long as they are not an obstacle to the tasks already underway nor require commitment from the organization (legal registeration, payment, contracting…)
Anyone is welcome to participate in any tasks. They can be appointed to be responsible for a certain task by the Board in the same manner as board members.
During each regular meeting the Board members will present a short report detailing new developments concerning their respective tasks and put a summary into the minutes of the Board meeting. The person responsible for a specific task can take minor decisions concerning that task with regard to the will of the Board.
By the end of their term of office, each Board member has to write a report about their activities during the term. The reports of all Board members will be published on the website of PPEU before the next Council meeting.
§ 4 Teams
[Disclaimer : 16-(9) states that the delegated powers and functions should be thoroughly defined. As such, this section is still a WIP and shouldn’t be taken in account for the moment]
As a consequence of Article 16 - (9) of the Statutes, the board can delegate some of its powers for the purpose of everyday management functions, some of these functions are permanently delegated to the following teams :
- Administration
- CEEP Coordinators
- IT
- Treasury
These crews are overseen by the board as a whole and board members can be detached to their management.
It is possible to remove anyone from these teams at any time. It is possible to add or remove teams as well as modify their powers. All of this is done by vote as defined in § 3. Immediate removal or suspension while awaiting for a vote is possible as protective measure in case of the existence of a threat to the organization, its members or systems.
§ 5 Budget, financial transactions and accounting
The Treasurer is in charge of drafting a financial budget that will be shared with the Chairperson of the Board and the Board. Both the Chairperson and Treasurer have to sign off to execute financial expenditures approved by the Board. If the Chairperson or Treasurer are not available, another Board member in consecutive order can be deputized in advance. Orders incurred up to and no more than totaling EUR 200 per month can be incurred by the Treasurer of PPEU without the approval of a Board meeting. These expenditures will still follow the process of sign off by both the Treasurer and Chairperson.
The Treasurer is also responsible for the internal procedures with respects to payment, and the keeping of invoices. He or she should propose such procedures which will be annexed to the present rules of procedure. Invoices should be available on demand for Board Members and Council Members to review.
Ultimately, the board as a whole is responsible for the sound management of the organization accounts, book keeping and the drafting of budgets.
§ 6 Questions to the Board
Anyone can ask a question to the board. The board must answer to PPEU members and their members (pirates) but may discard external questions. It is possible to ask a possible through several means (sorted from the most preffered method to the least) :
- Creating a Discourse subject asking a question in the dedicated area : 8th PPEU Board > Questions to the board > New subject
- Sending an e-mail
- Adding a question to a board meeting agenda
- Directly questionning the board on any messaging system on which board members are present
- Sending a mail
For archiving purposes, the questions submitted by other means than a discourse subject and their answer will be added to the dedicated Discourse category on a dedicated subject created by the board.
§ 7 Vacancy
The provisions in case of resignation or dismissal are defined in the Statutes. Any Board member not able to fulfill his tasks anymore shall resign by announcement to the coordinators designated by the PPEU members and to the Board. Resignation is immediately effective. A Board member not present at a Board meeting should inform the Board of the reason. If the Board member fails to do so for three consecutive Board meetings, the Board shall add to the agenda of the next Board meeting the initiation of a procedure of dismissal. The Board could then ask the Council to follow the procedure of dismissal for this Board member.
§ 8 Modifications and Entry into force
These rules of procedure can be modified at any time by the Board following a vote validating the changes. These rules of procedure are applicable with immediate effect.
Annex 1 - Contact methods
The current process to contact the Board is to send an e-mail to: pp-eu.board.private@lists.european-pirateparty.eu.
The current process to contact the coordinators designated by the PPEU members is to send an e-mail to: pp-eu.coordinators@lists.european-pirateparty.eu. It is up to each PPEU member to make sure that their delegate is subscribed to this mailing-list.