The European Pirates (PIRATES) or European Pirate Party (PPEU) is a pirate European political alliance. Despite its organisation and sometimes being referred to as a "European party" or "transnational party", the European Pirate Party does not meet the requirements to register as a European political party.
The European Pirates were founded on 21 March 2014 at the European Parliament in Brussels in the context of a conference on "European Internet Governance and Beyond",PPEU founding & European Internet Governance and Beyond – Programme , PPEU and consists of pirate parties of European countries. The parties cooperated to run a joint campaign for the 2014 European Parliament elections.
The founding meeting elected Amelia Andersdotter, Swedish Member of the European Parliament for Piratpartiet, as the first chairperson. The party's members elected to the European Parliament are in The Greens–European Free Alliance.
In November 2020, a new board was elected. Mikuláš Peksa was confirmed as a chairperson, Florie Marie (France) and Katla Hólm Vilbergs Þórhildardóttir (Iceland) were elected as chairperson. Alessandro Ciofini (Italy), Lukáš Doležal, Jan Mareš (both Czech Republic) and Mia Utz, Oliver Herzig (both Germany) were elected as ordinary members of the board.
In the 2024 European Parliament election, it lost three of its four seats. The Pirate Party of Greece unanimously decided, in its 12th Congress held on 1 June 2025, to leave the PPEU 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".
Member parties Country Political party MEPsNational MPsChamberMembersPirate Party of AustriaFederal CouncilNational Council Czech Pirate PartySenateChamber of Deputies Estonian Pirate Party Riigikogu Pirate PartyParliament of FinlandPirate PartySenateNational AssemblyPirate Party GermanyBundesratBundestag Pirate PartyNot in the EUAlthing Italian Pirate PartySenateChamber of Deputies Pirate Party Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies Pirate PartySenateHouse of RepresentativesPirate Party of NorwayNot in the EUStortingPolish Pirate PartySenateSejm Pirate Party SlovakiaNational Council of SlovakiaPirate Party of SloveniaNational CouncilNational AssemblyPirate ConfederationSenate of SpainCongress of DeputiesPirates of CataloniaSenate of SpainCongress of DeputiesPirate PartyRiksdagPirate Party SwitzerlandNot in the EUCouncil of StatesNational Council
Observer parties Country/regionPartyPirate Party of Bavaria Pirate Party of Belgium Pirate Party Brandenburg Young Pirates of Europe Pirate group in the European ParliamentPirate Party of SerbiaPirate Party Japan (日本海賊党)Pirate Party of PotsdamWorldPirate Parties InternationalHungarian Two-Tailed Dog PartyMinority List of Austria - Danube Federation
Former members Country/regionParty Pirate Party (Croatia) Pirate Party of Greece Pirate Party Romania
See also Pirate Party Pirate Parties International Young Pirates of Europe
References
Literature Otjes, S. (2020). All on the same boat? Voting for pirate parties in comparative perspective. Politics, 40(1), 38–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395719833274
External links