Delano: When was your party first established?

Piratepartei: 4 October, 2009.

Delano: Who founded it?

PP: A group of 14 people, including current candidates Sven Clement, Jerry Weyer, Sven Cannivy and Pierrot Bis.

Delano: Why what it set up? Was there a key event that led to its establishment?

PP: The main reason was unhappiness with how politics in Luxembourg had become less and less transparent. Established parties had gotten more entrenched and pragmatic solutions became rare. The final straw that broke the camel’s back was the introduction of video surveillance in Luxembourg City and the Data Retention Directive (introduced in 2006 and abolished in 2014) which Luxembourg applied, and still applies, even stricter than necessary.

Delano: What were its guiding principles at that time?

PP: The party was, and is, guided by the principles of freedom with responsibility for everybody. At the beginning we applied these principles mostly to technological questions and related policy (surveillance, copyright, patent law,…).

Delano: How have they changed over the years?

PP: With a growing membership base, a more diverse group came together and so obviously we broadened our horizons to apply the same principles to more and more policies. The guiding principles never really changed, we just realised that they applied to general policies and not only to technological questions. The principle of “freedom with responsibility” is very well defined as social-liberal.

Delano: Briefly, why should voters select your party in October?

PP: Voters should select a party that represents their best interests. We believe that, in many cases, established parties claim to represent interests, that when in power they simply ignore. Our claim “Don’t trust any election promises” resumes this feeling. We believe voters should keep their elected officials accountable, and people should vote for us to keep politics accountable.

Please note that Delano is presenting the Luxembourg political parties for your information only, not to promote one over the other.