Party of The Week: Pirate Party of Romania

This week's Pirate Party of the Week is the Pirate Party of Romania.

Will the Pirate Party of Romania participate in any upcoming elections? Please tell us about your expectations for the next elections you will participate in.

PP of Romania will hopefully participate in the upcoming elections. In 2011 there will be elections for local councils, in which we intend to run in at least 5 major cities with a objective of 5 council members, mostly to test our organisation capabilities. We see this only as a test for the general elections of 2012, where we will face the electoral margin of 5% required to accede in the Parliament. We are optimistic and see ourselves at 6% in the next general elections, and we also hope to have at least 1 MEP in the next European Elections.

What are the core topics of the Pirate Party of Romania? Are there topics that are unique to the Pirate Party of Romania, something that distinguishes them from other Pirate Parties?

We remain true to the 3 principles of the Pirate Parties, and we also have addressed some derived issues. Most importantly, we put emphasis on the individual rights and the relation between the state and the individuals, asking for a better management of the state, better public services and less bureaucratic burden on the individuals. This comes as a very specific list of legislation that has to be modified in order to increase the participation of the citizens to the decision making process and increase the state guaranteed privacy and respect for individual rights.
In the context of the economic crisis, PP Romania feels that the right of the individuals are diminished in favor of the survival of a sick state system, instead of finding solutions for empowering the individuals and thus healing the state.We believe that the future of the state can be only conceived on the basis of a better education and healthy economy and that the evolution of the individuals is now hampered by copyrights and economic interests of few.
We believe that the parties currently represented in the Parliament have done nothing for the citizens, but only for their political clique, and that they transformed the state into their personal enriching machine.

Tell us more about the inner structure of PP- Romania.

PP Romania is a grassroot movement. Since the legal registration of a party is a long and difficult process in Romania and we wish not to repeat the mistakes of older parties, we have chosen the collective decision making system, without individualizing a head of the party. This was put into practice by several of regional leaders that are reunited in a leading council that makes the decisions. Following the legal registration we will be forced to elect a president and another council, probably by the end of this year.
We could say that the pirate ideas are in Romania present from several decades, in times when nobody was even considering copyright, when VHS tapes and photocopies of books were brought from Western Europe, infringing the Iron Curtain, and being exchanged between friends. Discussions about making a PP in Romania started in 2008 and the first public act was done on 9th June 2009 with the launching of the PP site (http://partidulpiratilor.ro/). The mainstream media observed us and the first ever article about PP Romania appeared on 7th September 2009

If you think 5 years ahead, what will be different compared to today's situation?

The structure will change to a more formal, legally imposed one and a electronic vote system, allowing the participation to the decision taking of all members will be in place.We will have representatives in all types of elected bodies, and at least 3 major legislative initiatives adopted (on copyrights, individual rights and state transparency).

How do you manage to keep your financial balance? Do you have any special fund-raising methods? How can people support PP-Romania?

We raise our funds only from donations of our members and supporters, and we organise funds raising campaigns, limited to them, only when we need something we cannot do ourselves. We have tried and managed to realize everything only through this method since it was a way to determine the real base of supporters. A PayPal account system was established and our bank account can receive donations from all those willing to do so.

How many members does PP-Romania have at the moment? Can foreigners become members of PP- Romania?

Romanian legislation only allows romanian citizens to become members of political parties, but we are open to supporters from all over the world. We are very interested in what is happening in the world and also we have a specific person in charge with the activities concerning romanian citizens living outside the country.
Since we are not yet legally registered as a party, we cannot talk about a number of members, but we have gathered more than 5000 signatures on paper for the founding of the party.

Something Else?

As a young movement, with limited resources, there are many ways in which we can be helped. Maybe the most important support from other Pirate Parties, or the PPI, can come in the PR area. We encountered difficulties in making propaganda videos, in designing posters and generally creating/producing material to be distributed. Since other PP's have already produced and used such materials they could allow younger PP's to use them and maybe provide support in adapting them.
Also promoting national PP's actions on a PPI website and participation of older PP's to these could is a way to raise awareness

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• Pirate Party of Romania Website: http://partidulpiratilor.ro/
• Pirate Party of Romania on Twitter: http://twitter.com/piratii_ro
• Pirate Party of Romania on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/partidulpiratilor

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