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Sweden to Finally Get a Second Pirate MEP?

The EU election last June was a surprise for many, as the Piratpartiet got a seat with over 7% of the votes. Then when the Lisbon Treaty passed and they were awarded a second seat in the European Parliament. However, it wasn’t without drawbacks as the second seat has yet to be filled. That may happen soon.

ameliaThe rise of the Piratpartiet (Swedish Pirate Party) over recent years has been fairly meteoric. From zero January 1st 2006, to the third largest party by membership in mid 2009, it has seemingly tapped the political imagination of the youth in Sweden in recent years.

Nowhere else was that more apparent than in the June 2009 EU elections, when they carried a surprise 7.3% of the vote. This election result gave them one seat in the European Parliament.

The seat was taken by Christian Engstrom, (who also happens to have been the most popular MEP) with the potential for an additional seat if the Lisbon Treaty went through. The treaty passed in November 2009 and came into force as of December 1st 2009. The Piratpartiet were confirmed to have gained a second seat, which went to 22 year old Amelia Andersdotter, but several months later she still had not been able to take her seat.

Fast forward to August 2010 – almost 15 months after the election and 9 months after the ratification of the treaty – the EU is finally realizing that there are a number of Parliament Members that were elected, but never seated (Ghost MEPs). That may be about to change.

Ms. Andersdotter notes on her blog that she may soon be able to start representing her country, as she was elected to do. She just needs an ‘aye’ from the Council of Presidents (funnily enough, headed by the EU President, a position created by the same Treaty as Ms Andersdotter’s seat, but filled without either election or delay) to gain observer status, meaning they can do everything but vote. They get that ability when all nations approve the ‘transition protocols’. While the first vote could take place within 2 weeks time, the latter will probably take longer, especially as some countries (France) still haven’t assigned their extra MEPs.

A report in yesterday’s Times of Malta has put some doubt on the process though, as the EU is apparently strapped for cash and unable to afford the extra MEPs.

An EU parliamentary official told the Times, “Unfortunately, it seems the new MEPs, including the one from Malta, will not be able to join as observers this year because the EP has not allocated funds for this purpose in this year’s budget,” adding there may be some money to pay for the Ghost MEPs in the 2011 budget, but that it’s not been decided to invite them even then, so it’s not been allocated yet.

Then again, this is a body that was unable to pass a law banning 3-strikes laws, despite 88% support, so anything is possible.

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  • The United Hackers Association

    can you say stone walling

  • Damien

    I strongly support the idea of a federal european continent, but I want a democratic one !

    More power to the European Parliament ! And less power to the Commission and the member States !

  • PiRat

    @Damien

    EU was made by the corrupt, not we the people.

    An EU like the USA would be amazing though.

  • That guy

    Hope it all pans out for the EU, maybe its time to move over to Europe!!!!!!!

  • TheLQ

    Perhaps you should explain what the MEP is in Sweden

  • Ninja

    Doesn’t matter if they can’t use the second seat. Epic parties are epic.

    I’m excited about the next elections!

  • dudex

    isn’t it apparent that the Europeon Governments do exactly as they please?

    no amount of “representation” will change that. Only money will. LOTS OF IT

  • elduka

    pretty :)

  • Mikkel

    @The United Hackers Association: If there’s stonewalling taking place, it’s not directly against the Swedish Pirate Party. They’re far from the only party being hurt by this. Yes it’s undemocratic, but the problem is considerably more far-reaching than this.

    @PiRat: Only a fool would hold the US up as a bastion of democracy. The US Pirate Party is having trouble even forming, let alone winning an election. http://www.pirate-party.us/

    @TheLQ: Member of European Parliament. All full members of the European Union have ‘em, although apparently not all democratically-elected MEPs are actually entitled to represent their constituents.

  • Mikkel

    I should, as always, take this opportunity to promote my own party, the Pirate Party of Canada. If elected, we will actually be represented in Parliament. https://www.pirateparty.ca/

  • theddlera

    Id do her.

  • Jay

    @Mikkel during the next election I am definitely voting for the pirate party here in canada.

  • typo

    *a Second Pirate MEP

  • Precedent van Rompuy

    The Treaty of Lisbon did not have any clause allowing retrospective changes in the assignment of MEPs. It was written with the intention of coming into force before the latest European elections, and so when the ratification was delayed, the MEPs were allocated according to the rules in place at the time.

    Some countries will actually lose MEPs under the new distribution of seats, so it is hard to claim that applying the post-Lisbon rules to a pre-Lisbon election is “democratic”.

    The EU could have just made everyone wait until the next European elections before applying the new post-Lisbon formula, but it seems that MEPs care about both the letter and the spirit of the law, which is commendable.

    Getting 27 countries to agree on anything is difficult, especially if it means some of those countries reducing their number of representatives.

  • Momba

    Most of the European continent is already under one frederal gov. – Russian Federation.
    Know your geography!

  • neostyles

    I guess sweden can add state sponsored piracy to their resume.

  • Verthik

    @Mikkel

    Only a fool would say that the United States of America isn’t the clearest representation of a Democracy in the world today. See what has become of us and never doubt that our fate will be yours, after you also abandon your Republic.

    Oh yeah, you live in Canada. Sorry to tell you that you’re in a worse position than we are. Even more slaves of the state are you, than are we. Just always remember that your enemy is your remedy, and all are sovereign. Not that you’ll understand a word I just said, but others might, so atleast I know I’m not totally wasting my breath…

  • Pingback: Sweden to Finally Get a Second Pirate MEP? | Systema

  • Momba

    Verthik,
    only a person who doesn’t know what democracy is will say that US is a democracy today. Unfortunately, vast majority of Americans aren’t educated enough to know. Good for the govmnt, bad for the people.

    Just look at the Prop 8 in California or the fact that the president is not elected by the popular vote.
    Don’t confuse democracy with other things.

    Who is more foolish, the fool or the one that follows him?

  • MAFIAA

    would advise most pirates to walk the plank instead

  • Anna

    Ernesto for EU President!!!! :-)

  • TestCords

    I am Swedish and trying to convince myself to ignore my other political concerns and vote Pirate this September.

  • Proud Pirate….

    @16 but at least we know where we stand with them instead of the shady self important types we have now who just want to screw over the little man.

    Power to the pirates!

  • Anonymous

    Long live pirate party

  • Pingback: Le deuxième député ne peut toujours pas siéger ! «

  • Whatever

    Only as observer and no voting so whats the point ? It seems they are trying to make people “happy with a dead sparrow” as a smokescreen to hide other non democratic changes like the unelected president in the article. Perhaps next time the Swedish pirate party take all the seats, then there is no problem.

    @neocon…
    Is that the best you can do nowadays, you must be losing it. Maybe you’re slowly getting out of the denial phase that you are really a pirate.

  • Pingback: Hollywood Sues Advertiser at Movie Piracy Sites – TorrentFreak (blog) | Piracy Network

  • Precedent van Rompuy

    @24

    The president _was_ elected, unanimously, by the 27 heads of government of the EU member states. Under the Lisbon Treaty (unanimously ratified by the democratic governments of all the member states) it was these (democratically elected) 27 heads of government that had the duty of voting for the EU president.

    It may not be the best system, and people can argue about the best implementation of voting systems (electoral colleges, proportional representation, direct democracy) but to say that the new president is “unelected” seems counter-factual.

  • Booger Bender

    Who want’s to make a documentary of this? lol..

  • merethan

    Bloody EU. Giving more power to people who have even less with us in common can’t ever be a solution.

    Things go wrong nation wide already (Netherlands), what do you expect from a monster like the EU?

    Nice though there’s at least two pirates in the European Parliament.

  • monster

    Keep up the good work!

    Actual representation…blimey :)

  • Amelia Andersdotter

    Hm. There is actually a good chance for me getting, say, voting rights if only the member states of the Union sign the transition protocols. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t, and if they delay the ratification until the next mandate period, it essentially means they will still not have transition rules for the next legislature instead.

    Now, as regards agreements between member states, that’s already happened. This decision is actually involving only the parliament, so what we’re (probably) seeing is some French reluctance to immediate acceptance of the already named MEPs (since they themselves have not managed to agree on which their are yet – but again, this is not an EU issue, but a domestic French issue). The budget I can’t really see how it’s an issue: we’re talking about a place that employs more than 4500 people in three cities, with two really large buildings allocated for virtually the same employees in both cities and out of which most people are high executive enough to be paid more than the MEPs, and vastly more than their assistants. It’s not an issue of allocating more space – I have been past both of my offices, in both of the two buildings, in both of the official cities of the parliament. I don’t have the keys to them though.

    Bear in mind that the assigning of the new Commission was delayed by about 6 months to await the new treaty – the new Commission was otherwise supposed to have been assigned already earlier in 2009. This is probably also how they could move relatively painlessly into the new institutional structure, although they have had some problems with the institutional arrangements and power allocation within the institutions (primarily Commission, but also with respect to Council).

    And regardless of the apparent pointlessness of more MEPs, they do make a lot of difference. In the small political groups, like the Green group, an extra MEP makes more difference for the group as a whole than it would do in a large group, like the Socialists. But even within the Socialist group, an extra member of a national delegation within the group makes a lot of difference when it comes to policy development in the group.

    Most of the work isn’t even about voting, surprisingly. Actually, one vote out of 751 makes surprisingly little difference.

    As for objections, the only member state that loses MEPs from the Lisbon treaty is Germany, and they would in the current parliamentary constellation lose 3 MEPs. However, and due to the elections last year, the three extra assigned MEPs from Germany will get to remain for the remainder of the legislature. I fail to see why it would be legimate to withhold the fulfillment of the promise of higher representativity that championed as the main benefit of the Agreement during the 9 years leading up to its ratification only because they did not sort paperwork in the EU, nor in the memberstates, when they reasonably /knew/ the treaty would enter into force only 6 months after the election.

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