Pirate Party to sit with Greens in European Parliament
Sweden’s Pirate Party has ended speculation about its political priorities by announcing that its newly elected member of the European Parliament plans to join the legislative body’s Greens/European Free Alliance parliamentary group.
“We feel that we have the best opportunity to achieve results for our policies regarding the knowledge society and privacy issues through the Green group,” Pirate Party founder and leader Rick Falkvinge said in a statement.
Falkvinge’s party achieved surprisingly strong results in the European Parliamentary elections held earlier this month, receiving 7.1 percent of the vote – enough to earn it one of Sweden’s 18 allotted seats.
The Pirate Party’s seat will be filled by Christian Engström, a former member of Sweden’s Liberal Party (Folkpartiet), who switched allegiance to the Pirate Party in January 2006.
The party held discussions with several European parliamentary groups, and after much internal debate settled on the Greens.
“We have a very clear offer from the European United Left/Nordic Green Left which opened the way for an offer from the Greens/EFA. That shows that we are welcome among all groups along the left-right scale not least because our strategy for holding the balance of power works,” said Falkvinge.
Comments
See Also
“We feel that we have the best opportunity to achieve results for our policies regarding the knowledge society and privacy issues through the Green group,” Pirate Party founder and leader Rick Falkvinge said in a statement.
Falkvinge’s party achieved surprisingly strong results in the European Parliamentary elections held earlier this month, receiving 7.1 percent of the vote – enough to earn it one of Sweden’s 18 allotted seats.
The Pirate Party’s seat will be filled by Christian Engström, a former member of Sweden’s Liberal Party (Folkpartiet), who switched allegiance to the Pirate Party in January 2006.
The party held discussions with several European parliamentary groups, and after much internal debate settled on the Greens.
“We have a very clear offer from the European United Left/Nordic Green Left which opened the way for an offer from the Greens/EFA. That shows that we are welcome among all groups along the left-right scale not least because our strategy for holding the balance of power works,” said Falkvinge.
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.