# Pirate Parties International

Pirate Parties International (PPI) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Formed in 2010, it serves as a worldwide organization for Pirate Parties, currently representing 39 members from 36 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australasia. The Pirate Parties are political incarnations of the freedom of expression movement, trying to achieve their goals by the means of the established political system rather than just through activism. In 2017, PPI had been granted special consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

## Aims

The PPI statutes give its purposes as:
   to help establish, to support and promote, and to maintain communication and co-operation between pirate parties around the world.
The PPI advocate on the international level for the promotion of the goals. Its members share such as protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the digital age, consumer and authors rights-oriented reform of copyright and related rights, support of information privacy, transparency, and free access to information.
The name "Pirates" itself is a reappropriation of the title that was given to internet users by the representatives of the music and film industry and does not refer to any illegal activity.

## History

The first Pirate Party was the Swedish Piratpartiet, founded on 1 January 2006. Other parties and groups were formed in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. In 2007, representatives of these parties met in Vienna, Austria to form an alliance and plan for the 2009 European Parliament elections. Further conferences were held in 2008 in Berlin and Uppsala, the latter leading to the "Uppsala Declaration" of a basic platform for the elections.
In 2009, the original Pirate Party won 7.1% of the vote in Sweden's European Parliament elections and won two of Sweden's twenty MEP seats, inspired by a surge in membership following the trial and conviction of three members of the ideologically aligned Pirate Bay a year earlier.
On 18 April 2010, the Pirate Parties International was formally founded in Brussels at the PPI Conference from April 16 to 18.

### Uppsala Declaration

At the 2009 conference of Pirate Parties International in Uppsala (Sweden), European Pirate parties agreed on a common declaration of the parties' goals for the upcoming election of the European Parliament. Central issues of the declaration are:
* reform of copyright, exemption of non-commercial activity from copyright regulation, reduction of the duration of copyright protections; banning of DRM technologies, opposition to media or hardware levies;
* reform of patent law, particularly stating that patents on life (including patents on seeds and genes) and software should not be allowed;
* strengthening civil rights, transparent government, speedy and fair trial, freedom of speech, and expansion of the right to anonymity in communication.

### Prague Declaration

At the conference of Pirate Parties International in Prague (Czech Republic) in 2012, European Pirate parties agreed to run in the elections to the European Parliament in the year 2014 with a common program as well as establish a European political party (European Pirate Party, PPEU). The declaration has been followed by conferences in Potsdam and Barcelona to work on the structure of the legal body to come and the statutes for it.

### Member Parties

As of July 2 2022, PPI has the following 31 Ordinary members with the voting power of 28 (parties sharing territory split the vote among themselves):

#### Africa

* Pirate Party of Tunisia

#### Asia and the Pacific

* Pirate Party of New Zealand (1/2 vote; vote shared with IP New Zealand)
* Internet Party New Zealand (1/2 vote; vote shared with PP New Zealand)

#### Americas

* Pirate Party of Brazil
* Pirate Party of Chile
* United States Pirate Party
* Pirate Party of Venezuela

#### Europe

* Pirate Party of Belgium
* Pirate Party of Catalonia
* Czech Pirate Party
* Estonian Pirate Party
* Pirate Party of France
* Pirate Party Germany
* Pirate Party of Greece
* Pirate Party of Hungary
* Pirate Party of Israel
* Italian Pirate Party
* Pirate Party Luxembourg
* Pirate Party of Netherlands
* Pirate Party of Norway
* Polish Pirate Party
* Portuguese Pirate Party
* Pirate Party of Russia
* Pirate Party of Serbia
* Pirate Party of Slovakia (1/2 vote; vote shared with the other Slovakia)
* Pirate Party - Slovakia (1/2 vote; vote shared with the other Slovakia)
* Pirate Party Switzerland
* Pirate Party of Turkey (1/2 vote; vote shared with the other Turkey)
* Pirate Party Turkey (1/2 vote; vote shared with the other Turkey)
* Pirate Party of Ukraine

### Resignations

In February 2015, Pirate Party Australia resigned from PPI due to serious disagreement with the direction and management of the organization. In the same month, Pirate Party UK also resigned and in March the Belgian Pirate Party suspended its membership within PPI.
On 20 April 2015, the Pirate Party of Iceland voted overwhelmingly to leave PPI. A member of the executive, Arnaldur Sigurðarson, reported a 96.56% vote in favor of leaving, adding: "PPI has been pretty much useless when it comes to its objectives which should be to encourage international cooperation between Pirate Parties."
In May 2015, the Pirate Party of Sweden resolved with a significant majority to leave PPI, canceling their observer status.
In July 2016, the Pirate Party of Canada officially withdrew from Pirate Parties International citing ongoing troubles with the organization as well as a failure to adequately provide any accomplishments over its history.
In 2022, the Pirate Party of Austria withdrew from the Pirate Parties International.
In December 2023, Florie Marie resigned from her role as chairperson of the Pirate Parties International after less than one year.

## Structure

The PPI is governed by a board, formerly led by two co-chairs, and since the Warsaw conference of 2015 by a chair and a vice-chair. Policy, governance, and applications for membership are the responsibility of the PPI General Assembly which must convene at least once per year. By the current rules, board members are elected for a two-year term, half of the board being elected every year. Since the 2019 General Assembly, the Board has 9 members (previously 7). General Secretary and Treasurer positions are filled by the board by its members.
PPI Board :
| No. | Term | Co-Chairs (chair & vice-chair from 2015 onwards) | General Secretary | Treasurer | Member of the board | Alternates |
| 1st Board | IV/2010 III/2011 | Grégory Engels, Jerry Weyer | Joachim Mönch | Nicolas Sahlqvist | Aleksandar Blagojevic, Jakub Michálek, Bogomil Shopov | – |
| 2nd Board | III/2011 IV/2012 | Samir Allioui, Marcel Kolaja (receded) | Lola Voronina | Pat Mächler | Finlay Archibald (receded), Paul da Silva (receded), Thomas Gaul | – |
| 3rd Board | IV/2012 IV/2013 | Grégory Engels, Lola Voronina | Travis McCrea | Ed Geraghty | Nuno Cardoso, Jelena Jovanović, Denis Simonet | Brendan Molloy, Thomas Gaul, Alessandra Minoni, Andrew Norton (receded) |
| 4th Board | IV/2013 IV/2014 | Grégory Engels, Vojtěch Pikal | Thomas Gaul | Marc Tholl | Nuno Cardoso, Azat Gabrakhmanov, Denis Simonet | Jelena Jovanović, Paul Bossu, Radosław Pietroń, Yasin Aydın |
| 5th Board | IV/2014 VII/2015 | Maša Čorak, Koen de Voegt | Thomas Gaul | Sebastian Krone | Grégory Engels, Anders Kleppe, Stathis Leivaditis | Marco Confalonieri, Yasin Aydın, Min Chiaki, Chemseddine Ben Jemaa |
| 6th Board | VII/2015 VII/2016 | Andrew Reitemeyer (chair) Patrick Schiffer (vice-chair) | Henrique Peer | Karla Medrano | Min Chiaki, Chemseddine Ben Jemaa, Dr. Richard Hill, | Anders Kleppe, Nikolay Voronov, Koen De Voegt, Grégory Engels |
| 7th Board | VII/2016 XI/2017 | Guillaume Saouli (chair) Bailey Lamon (vice-chair) | Thomas Gaul | Keith L. Goldstein | Andrew Reitemeyer, Raymond Johansen, Koen De Voegt | Nikolay Voronov, Patrick Schiffer, Adam Wolf, Grégory Engels |
| 8th Board | XI/2017 XI/2018 | Guillaume Saouli (chair) Bailey Lamon (vice-chair) | Keith L. Goldstein | Thomas Gaul | Koen De Voegt, Raymond Johansen, Nikolay Voronov | Adam Wolf, Etienne Evellin, Daniel Dantas Prazeres, Grégory Engels |
| 9th Board | XI/2018 XII/2019 | Guillaume Saouli (chair) Bailey Lamon (vice-chair) | Keith L. Goldstein | Michal Gill | Etienne Evellin, Raymond Johansen, Ladislav Koubek | Daniel Dantas Prazeres, Grégory Engels, Kitty Hundal, Cédric Levieux |
| 10th Board | XII/2019 XII/2020 | Bailey Lamon (chair) Grégory Engels (vice-chair) | Keith L. Goldstein | Daniel Dantas Prazeres | Cédric Levieux, Thomas Gaul, Michal Gill, Linda B. Tørklep, Giuseppe Calandra | Sebastian Krone, Carlos Polo, Svein Mork Dahl, Cristina Diana Bargu |
| 11th Board | XII/2020 I/2022 | Bailey Lamon (chair) Grégory Engels (vice-chair) | Michal Gill | Sebastian Krone | Keith L. Goldstein, Carlos Polo, Manuel Caicedo, Dario Castane, Daniel Dantas Prazeres | Svein Mork Dahl, Thomas Gaul, Ji Yong Dijkhuis |
| 12th Board | since I/2022 | Bailey Lamon (chair) Grégory Engels (vice-chair) | Michal Gill | Sebastian Krone | Keith L. Goldstein, Carlos Polo, Manuel Caicedo, Dario Castane, Alexander Isavnin, Mauricio Vargas | Ji Yong Dijkhuis Veronika Murzynová Adam Wolf Sebastian Krone |
| 13th Board | since I/2023 | Florie Marie (chair) Grégory Engels (vice-chair) | TBD | TBD | Keith L. Goldstein Michael Toledo Bailey Lamon Michal Gill Julian Häffner Alexander Isavnin Mauricio Vargas | Mia Utz Adam Wolf Sebastian Krone Raman Ojha Carlos Polo |
| 14th Board | since I/2024 | Grégory Engels (chair) Keith L. Goldstein (vice-chair) | TBD | TBD | Bailey Lamon, Alexander Isavnin, Sebastian Krone, Owen C. Richardson, Michael Toledo, Julian Häffner, Mia Utz | Raman Ojha, Carlos Polo, Thomas Gaul |
All board meetings are recorded and the minutes are published here: https://wiki.pp-international.net/wiki/index.php?title=PPI_Board/Board_Meetings.

## PPI Conferences

International Pirate Party Meetings :
| Name | Date of Meeting | Location | Host Party |
| International Conference 2007 | 8-10/6/2007 | Vienna, Austria | |
| International Conference 1/2008 | 26-27/1/2008 | Berlin, Germany | |
| International Conference 2/2008 | 27-29/6/2008 | Uppsala, Sweden | |
| PPI Conference 2010 (Founding Conference) | 16-18/4/2010 | Brussels, Belgium | Pirate Party Belgium |
| PPI Conference 2011 | 12-13/3/2011 | Friedrichshafen, Germany | Pirate Party Germany |
| PPI Conference 2012 | 14-15/4/2012 | Prague, Czech Republic | Czech Pirate Party |
| Pirate Summer Conference | 9-10/6/2012 | Aarau, Switzerland | Pirate Party Aargau |
| PPI Conference 2013 | 20-21/4/2013 | Kazan, Russia | Pirate Party of Russia |
| PPI Conference 2014 | 12-13/4/2014 | Paris, France, on OpenSpace Conference | Pirate Party of France |
| PPI Conference 2015 | 4-5/7/2015 | Warsaw, Poland, on OpenSpace Conference | Pirate Party of Poland |
| PPI Conference 2016 | 23-24/7/2016 | Berlin, Germany | Pirate Party of Berlin |
| PPI Conference 2017 | 25-23/11/2017 | Geneva, Switzerland | Pirate Party of Switzerland |
| PPI Conference 2018 | 3-4/11/2018, online continuation on 10/11/2018 | Munich, Germany | Pirate Party Germany, Pirate Party Bavaria |
| PPI Conference 2019 | 7-8/12/2019 | online | By video conference only |
| PPI Conference 2020 (w/out board election) | 30/5/2020 | online | By video conference only |
| PPI General Assembly 2020 | 6/12/2020 | online | By video conference only |
| PPI General Assembly 2021 (w/out board election) | 3/7/2021 | online | By video conference only |
| PPI General Assembly 2022 | 8/1/2022 | online | By video conference only |
| PPI General Assembly 2022 (w/out board election) | 2/7/2022 | online | By video conference only |
| PPI General Assembly | 28/1/2023 | online | By video conference only |