What we do in Prague and how to prepare?

One reason of our blog-series was to lay the foundation of the discussions at the Pirate Parties International conference in Prague on April 14th to 15th. In this last post before the conference we would like to give a few tips on how to prepare for the conference to enable all participants to focus the discussions and get out of the panel with the most satisfying results.

The detailed timetable of the PPI conference shows the PPEU/Europe panel on Saturday, starting at 15.00 [1]. However if you are interested in EU politics make sure not to miss the speeches by Amelia Andersdotter (Pirate Party Sweden Member of European Parliament) at 12.00 and Laurence Vandewalle (Political advisor at European Parliament for the Greens/EFA group) at 14.00. The PPEU/Europe panel will be held till 18.00 and the end of day 1, but for an interruption from 16.00 to 16.30 for the speech of Cory Doctorow. The detailed timetable shows the two main points that will be discussed:

A) Do we need/want a Pirate Parties Europe/EU (PPEU/Europe)?

B1) Road-map on setting up PPEU/Europe or (based on outcome of A)

B2) Road-map on increasing and managing EU/European cooperation within Pirate Parties without formal structure

followed (if decided) by

C) Discussion and signing of common declaration

During Sunday, in the open space part (start 14.30) two panels on EU politics are planned:

• Common EU principles and program

• EU elections 2014 campaign

As these are part of the open space moderation and planning fall on the participants to allow for most open discussions and productivity. If you want to participate in these panels make sure to prepare some ideas to share! The Open Space part allows also for other panels – if you think a topic needs to be discussed there will be time!

Finally the social events, lunch breaks and talks with fellow Pirates from all over the world should give plenty of opportunity to discuss PPEU/Europe!

The PPEU/Europe panel in Prague is only one panel in the conference. Therefore time is an issue and the more you are informed about previous discussions, the faster we can move on to open questions, that have not been discussed yet. Here are several ways to prepare for the discussions:

• Read the mailinglist archive http://lists.pp-international.net/listinfo/pp-eu (need to subscribe).

• In our blogposts we try to summarize previous discussions on the mailinglist and give our view on PPEU/Europe. While we try to present all opinions, these posts are of course subjective. They will give a first overview over the topic though.

What is your opinion about PPEU/Europe? Ask around in your national or regional Pirate Party and discuss the topic with your fellow Pirates, especially the questions about a) whether your party wants a PPEU and would participate and b) what structure your party would prefer for PPEU. Although you should try to keep an open mind, try to form an opinion before Prague!

PPEU/Europe is only starting – we are in the most preliminary discussions. Some ideas are good, some are bad. But all should be taken into account to decide the good from the bad ideas. Question the speakers critically, but try to keep an open mind for ideas!

Come to Prague and share contact information about the people in your Pirate Party who are going to continue working on PPEU/Europe after the conference. Make sure at least one delegate participates in the EU panels (for European delegations). Select (at least) one permanent contact person between PPEU and your national or regional Pirate Party.

Don’t take any of the disputes personally and stay fair, even if you don’t share an opinion.

We only have a short time on the PPI Conference to discuss the topics above. Don’t lose yourself in unnecessary discussions, but try to stay on track. Stop others who try to disturb the discussion.

This is a great possibility to meet like-minded people from all over the world. Have a beer and share a joke together, talk and get to know each other (better).

Prague, here we come!

Jerry Weyer (@jerryweyer)

Steffen Ortmann (@ortsman)

[1] http://int.piratenpartei.de/PPI_Conference_2012/timetable

Links:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_political_party

• http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politische_Partei_auf_europ%C3%A4ischer_Ebene

• Dissertation zur Europäischen Parteiendemokratie von 2005: http://www.gehlen.net/diss/

• VO(EG) Nr. 2004/2003: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/Notice.do?val=286830:cs&lang=de&list=286830:cs,&pos=1&page=1&nbl=1&pgs=10&hwords=&checktexte=checkbox&visu=#texte

• Bericht über die Anwendung der Verordnung (EG) Nr. 2004/2003 über die Regelungen für die politischen Parteien auf europäischer Ebene und ihre Finanzierung (2010/2201(INI)) vom 18.03.2011: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&reference=A7-2011-0062&language=DE

• Statutes EGP: http://europeangreens.eu/fileadmin/logos/pdf/pdf_budget_and_statutes/Statutes_after_Berlin_Ljubljana.pdf

• Charter EGP: http://europeangreens.eu/fileadmin/logos/pdf/pdf_charter/Charter_English.pdf

• Statutes PES: http://www.pes.org/en/system/files/statutes_en.pdf

• Statutes EPP: http://www.32462857769.net/EPP/e-PressRelease/PDF/EN%20Statutes%20&%20Internal%20Regulations%20(November%202011).pdf

• Statutes ELDR: http://www.eldr.eu/media/cms/articles_of_association_ELDR.pdf

• Internal Regulations ELDR: http://www.eldr.eu/medi/cms/revised_internal_rules_adopted.pdf

• Gründungserklärung ELDR: http://www.eldr.eu/media/cms/eldr_stuttgart_declaration.doc

• Statutes EL: http://www.european-left.org/nc/english/about_the_el/documents/detail/zurueck/documents/artikel/statute-of-the-party-of-the-european-left-el/

• Statutes EDP: http://www.pde-edp.net/main/pde/en/aboutus/statutes/statutes.pdf

• Manifest EDP: http://www.pde-edp.net/main/pde/en/vision/manifesto/edp_manifesto.pdf

• Statutes EFA: http://www.e-f-a.org/efaactive.php?id=12

• Rules of Internal Order EFA: http://www.e-f-a.org/efaactive.php?id=67

• Statutes EUD: http://www.eudemocrats.org/eud/uploads/Statute%20of%20the%20EU%20Democrats(1).pdf

• Statutes PPI: http://int.piratenpartei.de/Statutes/2011-03-12_Statutes_after_first_amendement

• Proposals for Statutes Amendment 2012 PPI: http://int.piratenpartei.de/PPI_Conference_2012/Proposals

• Statutes Newropeans http://www.newropeans.eu/spip.php?article=11&lang=en

• archive of the mailing list pp-eu (for list members) http://lists.pp-international.net/private/pp-eu/