Pirate Parties International (PPI) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Formed in 2010, it serves as a worldwide organization for Pirate Parties, currently representing 39 members from 36 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australasia. The Pirate Parties are political incarnations of the freedom of expression movement, trying to achieve their goals by means of the established political system rather than solely through activism. In 2017, PPI was granted special consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
Aims
The PPI statutes give its purposes as:to help establish, to support and promote, and to maintain communication and co-operation between pirate parties around the world.The PPI advocate on the international level for the promotion of goals its members share such as protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the digital age, consumer and authors' rights-oriented reform of copyright and related rights, support of information privacy, transparency, and free access to information.
The name "Pirates" itself is a reappropriation of the title that was given to internet users by the representatives of the music and film industry and does not refer to any illegal activity.
History The first Pirate Party was the Swedish Piratpartiet, founded on 1 January 2006. Other parties and groups were formed in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. In 2007, representatives of these parties met in Vienna, Austria to form an alliance and plan for the 2009 European Parliament elections. Further conferences were held in 2008 in Berlin and Uppsala, the latter leading to the "Uppsala Declaration" of a basic platform for the elections.
In 2009, the original Pirate Party won 7.1% of the vote in Sweden's European Parliament elections and won two of Sweden's twenty MEP seats, inspired by a surge in membership following the trial and conviction of three members of the ideologically aligned Pirate Bay a year earlier.
On 18 April 2010, the Pirate Parties International was formally founded in Brussels at the PPI Conference from April 16 to 18.
Uppsala Declaration At the 2009 conference of Pirate Parties International in Uppsala (Sweden), European Pirate parties agreed on a common declaration of the parties' goals for the upcoming election of the European Parliament. Central issues of the declaration are:
reform of copyright, exemption of non-commercial activity from copyright regulation, reduction of the duration of copyright protections; banning of DRM technologies, opposition to media or hardware levies; reform of patent law, particularly stating that patents on life (including patents on seeds and genes) and software should not be allowed; strengthening civil rights, transparent government, speedy and fair trial, freedom of speech, and expansion of the right to anonymity in communication.
Prague Declaration At the conference of Pirate Parties International in Prague (Czech Republic) in 2012, European Pirate parties agreed to run in the elections to the European Parliament in 2014 with a common program, as well as to establish a European political party; the European Pirate Party (PPEU), a European political alliance was subsequently established in 2014. The declarationThe Prague Declaration has been followed by conferences in Potsdam and Barcelona to work on the structure of the legal body to come and the statutes for it.
Hack the Promise Festival Basel 2025 In 2025, Pirate Parties International board member Schoresch Davoodi presented the keynote "Hack the System – At Least a Little" at the Hack the Promise Festival in Basel. He reframed the hacker ethos as a democratic practice of precision, openness, and collaboration, arguing that defending freedom today means improving systems rather than destroying them.
Member Parties As of 3 April 2026, the PPI lists the following 28 ordinary members with the voting power of 26 (parties sharing territory split the vote among themselves).
It must be noted, however, that the member party list mentions the Pirate Party of Australia both as an ordinary member and as a former member, without clarifying when the party rejoined, or removing it from the list of former ordinary members. Furthermore, the member party list still mentions the Pirate Party of Tunisia as an ordinary member, although it seems to be defunct. Similarly, it lists the United States Pirate Party as an ordinary member, although it voted to resign, criticizing the PPI for its stance on the Gaza Genocide and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
Africa Pirate Party of Tunisia Asia and the Pacific Pirate Party of Australia Pirate Party of Israel Pirate Party of New Zealand (1/2 vote; vote shared with IP New Zealand below) Internet Party New Zealand (1/2 vote; vote shared with PP New Zealand) Pirate Party of Turkey (1/2 vote; vote shared with the other Turkish party) Pirate Party Turkey (1/2 vote; vote shared with the other Turkish party) Americas Pirate Party of Brazil Pirate Party of Chile Pirate Party of Venezuela United States Pirate Party
Europe Pirate Party of Belgium Pirate Party of Catalonia Czech Pirate Party Estonian Pirate Party Pirate Party Germany Pirate Party of Hungary Italian Pirate Party Pirate Party Luxembourg Pirate Party of Netherlands Pirate Party of Norway Polish Pirate Party Portuguese Pirate Party Pirate Party of Russia Pirate Party of Serbia Pirate Party - Slovakia Pirate Party Switzerland Ukrainian Pirate Community
Resignations In February 2015, Pirate Party Australia resigned from PPI due to serious disagreement with the direction and management of the organization, but rejoined in December 2023. In the same month, Pirate Party UK also resigned and in March the Belgian Pirate Party suspended its membership within PPI.
On 20 April 2015, the Pirate Party of Iceland voted overwhelmingly to leave PPI. A member of the executive, Arnaldur Sigurðarson, reported a 96.56% vote in favor of leaving, adding: "PPI has been pretty much useless when it comes to its objectives which should be to encourage international cooperation between Pirate Parties."
In May 2015, the Pirate Party of Sweden resolved with a significant majority to leave PPI, canceling their observer status.
In July 2016, the Pirate Party of Canada officially withdrew from Pirate Parties International citing ongoing troubles with the organization as well as a failure to adequately provide any accomplishments over its history.
In 2022, the Pirate Party of Austria withdrew from the Pirate Parties International.
In December 2023, Florie Marie resigned from her role as chairperson of the Pirate Parties International after less than one year.
On 30 January 2024, the Pirate Party of France resigned.
On 1 June 2025, the Pirate Party of Greece's 12th Congress unanimously decided to leave the European Pirate Party and the Pirate Parties International, citing ideological issues, a lack of political added value, and a lack of room for "constructive and productive political discourse".
On 1 February 2026, the United States Pirate Party voted unanimously to officially leave Pirate Parties International, citing its stance on the Gaza genocide and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, which it views as inconsistent with Pirates' universal promotion of the right to self-determination, as well as perceived incompatibilities in the affiliations and prior work of a senior PPI officer with Pirate principles. In their statements concerning their resignation and distancing from the PPI, they are also specifically and particularly critical of the Pirate Party Germany on this matter.
Structure The PPI is governed by a board, formerly led by two co-chairs,Pirate Parties International Statutes, Article XIII. and since the Warsaw conference of 2015 by a chair and a vice-chair. Policy, governance, and applications for membership are the responsibility of the PPI General Assembly which must convene at least once per year.Pirate Parties International Statutes, Articles IX – XI. By the current rules, board members are elected for a two-year term, half of the board being elected every year. Since the 2019 General Assembly, the Board has 9 members (previously 7). General Secretary and Treasurer positions are filled by the board by its members.
+ PPI Board No. Term Co-Chairs (chair & vice-chair from 2015 onwards) General Secretary Treasurer Member of the board Alternates 1st Board IV/2010 III/2011 Grégory Engels, Jerry Weyer Joachim Mönch Nicolas Sahlqvist Aleksandar Blagojevic, Jakub Michálek, Bogomil Shopov – 2nd Board III/2011 IV/2012 Samir Allioui, Marcel Kolaja(receded) Lola Voronina Pat Mächler Finlay Archibald(receded), Paul da Silva(receded), Thomas Gaul – 3rd Board IV/2012 IV/2013 Grégory Engels, Lola Voronina Travis McCrea Ed Geraghty Nuno Cardoso, Jelena Jovanović, Denis Simonet Brendan Molloy, Thomas Gaul, Alessandra Minoni, Andrew Norton(receded) 4th Board IV/2013 IV/2014 Grégory Engels, Vojtěch Pikal Thomas Gaul Marc Tholl Nuno Cardoso, Azat Gabrakhmanov, Denis Simonet Jelena Jovanović, Paul Bossu, Radosław Pietroń, Yasin Aydın 5th Board IV/2014 VII/2015 Maša Čorak, Koen de Voegt Thomas Gaul Sebastian Krone Grégory Engels, Anders Kleppe, Stathis Leivaditis Marco Confalonieri, Yasin Aydın, Min Chiaki, Chemseddine Ben Jemaa 6th Board VII/2015 VII/2016 Andrew Reitemeyer (chair) Patrick Schiffer (vice-chair) Henrique Peer Karla Medrano Min Chiaki, Chemseddine Ben Jemaa, Dr. Richard Hill, Anders Kleppe, Nikolay Voronov, Koen De Voegt, Grégory Engels 7th Board VII/2016 XI/2017 Guillaume Saouli (chair) Bailey Lamon (vice-chair) Thomas Gaul Keith L. Goldstein Andrew Reitemeyer, Raymond Johansen, Koen De Voegt Nikolay Voronov, Patrick Schiffer, Adam Wolf, Grégory Engels 8th Board XI/2017 XI/2018 Guillaume Saouli (chair) Bailey Lamon (vice-chair) Keith L. Goldstein Thomas Gaul Koen De Voegt, Raymond Johansen, Nikolay Voronov Adam Wolf, Etienne Evellin, Daniel Dantas Prazeres, Grégory Engels 9th Board XI/2018 XII/2019 Guillaume Saouli (chair) Bailey Lamon (vice-chair) Keith L. Goldstein Michal Gill Etienne Evellin, Raymond Johansen, Ladislav Koubek Daniel Dantas Prazeres, Grégory Engels, Kitty Hundal, Cédric Levieux 10th Board XII/2019 XII/2020 Bailey Lamon (chair) Grégory Engels (vice-chair) Keith L. Goldstein Daniel Dantas Prazeres Cédric Levieux, Thomas Gaul, Michal Gill, Linda B. Tørklep, Giuseppe Calandra Sebastian Krone, Carlos Polo, Svein Mork Dahl, Cristina Diana Bargu 11th Board XII/2020 I/2022 Bailey Lamon (chair) Grégory Engels (vice-chair) Michal Gill Sebastian Krone Keith L. Goldstein, Carlos Polo, Manuel Caicedo, Dario Castane, Daniel Dantas Prazeres Svein Mork Dahl, Thomas Gaul, Ji Yong Dijkhuis 12th Board since I/2022 Bailey Lamon (chair) Grégory Engels (vice-chair) Michal Gill Sebastian Krone Keith L. Goldstein, Carlos Polo, Manuel Caicedo, Dario Castane, Alexander Isavnin, Mauricio Vargas Ji Yong Dijkhuis Veronika Murzynová Adam Wolf Sebastian Krone13th Boardsince I/2023 Florie Marie (chair) Grégory Engels (vice-chair)TBDTBD Keith L. Goldstein Michael Toledo Bailey Lamon Michal Gill Julian Häffner Alexander Isavnin Mauricio Vargas Mia Utz Adam Wolf Sebastian Krone Raman Ojha Carlos Polo14th Boardsince I/2024 Grégory Engels (chair) Keith L. Goldstein (vice-chair)TBDTBD Bailey Lamon, Alexander Isavnin, Sebastian Krone, Owen C. Richardson, Michael Toledo, Julian Häffner, Mia Utz Raman Ojha, Carlos Polo, Thomas Gaul15th Boardsince I/2025 Keith L. Goldstein (chair) Grégory Engels (vice-chair)TBDTBD Bailey Lamon, Alexander Isavnin, Sebastian Krone, Mark Anthony, Michael Toledo, Raman Ojha, Carlos Polo, Thomas Gaul Babak Tubis Schoresch Davoodi,