The Secretariat is the collective backbone of the European Pirates, made up of six core teams working together to support the organisation and advance the goals set out by the Council and the Board. It handles everything from communications and policy to IT, community engagement, operations, and overall coordination through the Management Team. As a volunteer-driven structure, the Secretariat ensures that the organisation runs smoothly, stays connected, and remains politically impactful at the European level.
Secretary General
The Secretary General provides overall coordination and leadership within the Secretariat, ensuring that all teams are aligned and working effectively toward shared goals. As the main point of contact for the organisation, the Secretary General also represents the European Pirates externally and upholds its values, structure, and mission.
Mattias Bjärnemalm – Secretary General
Mattias Bjärnemalm has been active in the political pirate movement since its early days in Sweden. Joining the Swedish pirate party shortly after the party was founded in 2006, he has served the party in a multitude of different roles. This includes serving as the party organizer in the management team, as a regional leader, board member, chair of the nomination committee and deputy party leader. He was also the founder and first Secretary General of the Young Pirates of Sweden, serving in that role for the first three years of the its existence.
He has been involved in the European level of pirate affairs for most of his time in the movement, and he was instrumental in the creation of the European Pirates as well as the Young Pirates of Europe.
He has a background in political science, and worked as the head of Office for Amelia Andersdotter and Felix Reda in the European Parliament. After that he worked as a Digital Policy advisor, and later Network Officer, For the pirates delegation within the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament. As Network officer he secured the relationship agreement between the Pirates and the Greens, regulating the presence of the Pirates in the Group.
He started the role as the first Secretary General of the European Pirates in June 2025.
Management Team
The Management Team, under the leadership of the Secretary General, brings together the leads of each team to ensure coordination, strategic alignment, and smooth decision-making across the Secretariat. It provides guidance, monitors progress, and supports collaboration between teams. By working together, the Management Team helps the organisation stay focused, responsive, and connected across all levels.
Bart Overkamp – Team Leader Communication
Bart Overkamp has been active online as a persona since 2020, publishing independent writing under his own name. He became a producer of videos in 2021 and is a storyteller (on stage) since 2022.
Previous professional experience includes the formation of an NGO focused on workplace opportunities and being part of the Humanistic Collective Utrecht i.o. board.
Fabio Daniele – Team Leader Community and Outreach
Fabio Daniele is an Intelligence Analyst specialized in disinformation and counter-disinformation activities, with a past in the tech sector and Italian politics. He was a board member of Volt Italy from 2020 to 2021 with a mandate focused on electoral campaigning, fundraising, and outreach. Previously he has been a member and activist for the Democratic Party (“Partito Democratico”) in Italy
David Cvetko – Team Leader IT
David Cvetko is from Austria and has been working in software for over a decade in roles ranging from engineer and project manager to team lead and entrepreneur. He has worked in a safety-critical industry, co-founded a blockchain startup in Korea, and is now working in the European cloud sector, helping to build a more sovereign digital Europe.
Alongside his professional work, David has long been engaged in self-hosting open-source IT. He is also passionate about tackling society’s loneliness problem, having run a coliving community in Portugal and is now developing software tools to support communities and collaboration.
Sorana-Monica Ciovica – Team Leader operations
Sorana-Monica Ciovica is an HR and project management professional with extensive experience in European institutions and international cooperation. Over the past decade, she has worked on budget monitoring, procurement, and stakeholder coordination in EU agencies, bringing clarity and structure to complex cross-border projects.
As Team Leader for HR Operations at Pirates of Europe, she is focused on building fair, transparent, and motivating processes for volunteers — from recruitment and onboarding to engagement and retention. She is passionate about people-driven organisations, inclusive participation, and making political movements stronger through well-supported teams.
Thomas Kranz – Team Leader Policy
Thomas Kranz is a hacker, consultant, and activist with over 30 years of experience working in cybersecurity. From the Baltic states’ independence movement in the 80s and 90s, he has continued to be involved in work against the misuse of technology by government. He has taken part in consultations and given evidence to UK and EU government working groups and committees, on issues including digital ID, encryption, surveillance, and privacy.
He has presented talks at several hacker conferences on the misuse of AI and the need for more hackers to be involved in policy-making. He also regularly runs workshops on privacy technologies, defeating digital surveillance, and using open source alternatives to Big Tech services.
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