Pirate Party Berlin Piratenpartei Berlin | |
---|---|
Chairperson | Simon Kowalewski |
General Secretary | Petra Stoll |
Deputy Leader | Alexander Spies |
Treasurer | Achim Weinberger |
Executive Director | Franz-Josef Schmitt |
Founded | 30 December 2006 |
Youth wing | Young Pirates |
Membership (Jan 2, 2016) | 884 [1] |
Ideology | Pirate politics Direct democracy |
National affiliation | Pirate Party Germany |
International affiliation | Pirate Parties International |
Colours | Orange |
Website | |
berlin | |
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The Pirate Party Berlin (German : Piratenpartei Berlin) is the state chapter of the Pirate Party Germany in the city-state of Berlin and was the first chapter of the Pirates to enter a Landtag (state parliament), getting elected to the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin in 2011. The party divides itself into so-called Crews (self-organizing units) at the local level. Work groups on specific themes are called Squads. [2] Since 2010, the national association has used the software LiquidFeedback for intra-party decision-making. [3]
Election | % | |
---|---|---|
European Parliament election, 2009 | 1.4 | |
2009 German federal election | 3.4 | |
Borough Assembly elections, 2011 | 8.5 | |
2011 Berlin state election | 8.9 | |
2013 German federal election | 3.6 | |
European Parliament election, 2014 | 3.2 |
The state chapter was founded 30 December 2006. During the 2009 federal election, the Berlin Pirate Party received 3.4 percent of the votes, which was their best showing at the national level. During the 2011 Berlin state election, the party entered a state parliament for the first time when they received 8.9 percent of the votes for the state parliament of Berlin. Lead candidate of the party list, Andreas Baum, was thus given a seat. [4]
List of Chairpersons:
One of the main concerns of the Pirate Party at the country level is transparency in politics and public administration. The Berlin Pirate Party pioneered livestreaming party meetings on the internet [5] and making the records available for download. [6]
As per its 2011 election programme, the Berlin Pirate Party advocates the promotion of alternative residential projects and cultural institutions as well as the preservation of open spaces in inner-city areas. It also opposes the so-called "Berlin Line" low-tolerance anti-squatting policy. [7] The party is also in favor of a ticket-less public transport system in Berlin. [8] The successful "Referendum on Disclosing Partial Privatizations of the Berlin Waterworks" (Volksentscheid über die Offenlegung der Teilprivatisierungsverträge bei den Berliner Wasserbetrieben) was supported by the Berlin Pirates. For Berlin schools, the party also supports ethical education on drug use ("Drug Maturity" model). [9] The party also wants to remove the minimum voting age clause for Berlin state parliament elections. In addition, three chapters of their party's basic program are devoted to animal welfare. [10]
In the state parliament of Berlin (Abgeordnetenhaus von Berlin), all 15 Pirate Party candidates (14 men and 1 woman) were elected directly through their mandate. Of the parties in the state parliament, the Pirates have the lowest percentage of female representatives, with only 6.6 percent.
Because of double candidacies, three seats in the Borough Assembly (BVV) in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg could not be filled. Because of this, the pirates could not take city council posts for which they were eligible. [11] [12]
(*) During 2014-2015, Baum, Delius, Herberg, Höfinghoff, Lauer, Mayer und Weiß laid down their party membership, but continued to work with the remaining PPB parliamentary group.
The Pirate Party is represented in all 12 borough assemblies in Berlin. In five assemblies, the pirates cannot fully occupy their allocated seats because they received more seats than they had candidates. The following table shows the number of seats per district and, in parentheses, the number of vacant seats:
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf | Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg | Lichtenberg | Marzahn-Hellersdorf | Mitte | Neukölln | Pankow | Reinickendorf | Spandau | Zehlendorf | Schöneberg | Köpenick |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | 5 (+4) | 5 | 4 (+1) | 4 (+2) | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 (+1) | 3 | 4 | 4 (+1) |
The Berlin state election on September witnessed the collapse of support for the Pirate party in their previous stronghold of Berlin. Their previous vote of 8.9% achieved in 2011 fell to 1.7% and the Pirate party lost all representation in the Berlin State assembly. The poor result was compounded by the murder suicide of former Pirate party assembly member Gerwald Claus-Brunner who wheeled the body of a young man whom he had murdered through the streets of Berlin in a handcart. [17]
The Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin is the state parliament (Landtag) of Berlin, Germany according to the city-state's constitution. In 1993 the parliament moved from Rathaus Schöneberg to its present house on Niederkirchnerstraße in Mitte, which until 1934 was the seat of the Prussian Landtag. The current president of the parliament is Dennis Buchner (SPD).
Anne Helm is a German politician and voice actress. She is serving as parliamentary leader of The Left in the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin since June 2020, and has been a member of the Abgeordnetenhaus since 2016. She was previously a member of the Pirate Party Germany from 2009 to 2014.
The Pirate Party of Austria is a political party in Austria and part of the global Pirate Party movement which advocates what has come to be known as Pirate politics. It is mostly known for opposing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. The party was founded by Florian Hufsky and Jürgen 'Juxi' Leitner during the run-up to the 2006 election in Austria, but failed to gather the necessary signatures to contest the election. On 14 March 2010, the PPÖ ran for municipal elections for its first time in the city of Bregenz and received 1.62% of the vote, however failed to win any seats.
The Pirate Party Germany, commonly known as Pirates, is a political party in Germany founded in September 2006 at c-base. It states general agreement with the Swedish Piratpartiet as a party of the information society; it is part of the international movement of pirate parties and a member of the Pirate Parties International. In 2011-12, the party succeeded in attaining a high enough vote share to enter four state parliaments and the European Parliament. However, their popularity rapidly declined and by 2017 they had no representation in any of the German state parliaments. Their one European MEP, Patrick Breyer, is in the Greens–European Free Alliance group. Together with Marcel Kolaja, Markéta Gregorová and Mikuláš Peksa from the Czech Pirate Party they build up the European Pirate Party team for the European Parliament in Brussels.
Pirate Party is a label adopted by political parties around the world. Pirate parties support civil rights, direct democracy or alternatively participation in government, reform of copyright and patent law, free sharing of knowledge, information privacy, transparency, freedom of information, free speech, anti-corruption and net neutrality. The name pirate party alludes to online piracy; pirate parties do not represent oceangoing pirates.
The 2011 Berlin state election was held on 18 September 2011 to elect the members of the 17th Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin. The incumbent government consisting of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Left lost its majority.
All Berlin residents who are 16 years and older, hold EU citizenship, have lived there for three months and were registered six weeks before the election are eligible to vote for the districts' assemblies. In order to be eligible to vote for the parliament of Berlin (Abgeordnetenhaus), one has to be 18 years old and hold German citizenship, too. Only those under disability or in psychiatric wards are excluded. Courts of justice also have the possibility to revoke the right to vote.
Andreas Baum is a German politician and former member of the Pirate Party Berlin, which is a branch of the national Pirate Party. He entered the state parliament of Berlin when the Pirate party won 15 seats in the 2011 Berlin state election.
Jasmin Freigang is a German politician who was a member of the Saarland regional parliament from 2012 to 2017, representing the Pirate Party.
Ramona Pop is a Romanian-born German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens party who has been serving as chairwoman of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (VZBV) since 2022. She previously served as a deputy mayor of Berlin and Senator for Economy, Energy, and Enterprises from 2016 until 2021.
Patrick Breyer is a German digital rights activist, jurist, Pirate Party Germany politician, and – since 2019 – Member of the European Parliament (MEP). From 2012 to 2017 he was a member of the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein and from April 2016 until the end of the legislative period he was also the leader of the Pirate group in that assembly. Breyer is one of four European Pirate Party MEPs in the 2019–2024 term along with three Czech Pirate Party members, all of whom are members of the Greens / EFA parliamentary group.
Anke Domscheit-Berg is a German politician and activist. She has been a member of the Bundestag since 2017, when she was elected on the party list of The Left, without being a party member. She joined the party in 2021 following her nomination to the top female position on the party election list in the state of Brandenburg. Previously, she was a member of the Pirate Party Germany and the Greens. She is married to Daniel Domscheit-Berg. In 2010 she received the Berliner Frauenpreis.
Helin Evrim Sommer is a German politician, a former member of the Berlin House of Representatives and of the German Bundestag for the state of Berlin. She was a member of The Left party until May 2022.
The 2021 Berlin state election was held on 26 September 2021 to elect the 19th Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin. The incumbent government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), The Left, and The Greens led by Governing Mayor Michael Müller. Müller did not run for re-election as Mayor, and former federal minister Franziska Giffey led the SPD in the election. The Berlin expropriation referendum was held on the same day, as well as the Borough council elections who function as the municipal elections of Berlin.
Mario Czaja is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as the party's Secretary General since 31 January 2022, under the leadership of Friedrich Merz. He is a member of the German Bundestag since the 2021 elections. From 2006 until 2021, he was a member of the State Parliament of Berlin.
Bettina Jarasch is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as Deputy Mayor and Senator for Environment, Mobility, Consumer and Climate Protection in the Berlin state government since December 2021. She was previously a member of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin from 2016 to 2022, and leader of the Berlin branch of the Greens from 2011 to 2016. She was the Greens' lead candidate for the 2021 Berlin state election.
Daniel Wesener is a German politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens. He is serving as Senator for Finance in the Berlin state government since December 2021. He was previously state chairman of the Greens from 2011 to 2017, and a member of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin from 2016 to 2022.
Antje Kapek is a German politician of Alliance 90/The Greens. From 2012 to 2022, she was co-chair of the Greens parliamentary group in the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin. She was co-lead candidate in the 2016 Berlin state election alongside Ramona Pop, Bettina Jarasch, and Daniel Wesener.
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The 2023 Berlin repeat state election was held on 12 February 2023 to once again elect the 19th Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin. The 19th Abgeordnetenhaus was originally elected on 26 September 2021. On 16 November 2022, the Constitutional Court of the State of Berlin declared the results invalid due to numerous irregularities and ordered a repeat election within 90 days. A decision by the Federal Constitutional Court regarding five constitutional complaints is still pending, but will not be decided until after the repeat election. The incumbent government was a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), The Greens, and The Left led by Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey.