[pp.int.general] EUparl status

[Valentin Villenave]

2009/3/9 Andrew Norton <andrew.norton at pirate-party.us>:
> Ok, a week into march, we've got 3 months to go, and who's where.
>
> If any parties are having problems, LET ME KNOW. better yet, let us ALL know
> - because no-one can help if we don't know.

Hi Andrew,
sorry for not having been active on this list for the past weeks.

Here in France we're having a rough and exciting time.

I don't think we can make it for EU parliament, since we don't have
enough members in a same voting district (plus the male/female balance
is nearly impossible to achieve).

On the other hand, we are now being officially registered as a party,
and that should bring us more members in a near future. We are about
to launch our new web-platform and the second issue of our Free Music
compilation.

French parliament is voting today for the infamous 'HADOPI' law,
directly written by the majors for their own benefit. This law has
raised a huge citizen's movement on the Internet, many people have
been writing to their MPs to express their concerns. To which Culture
Minister Christine Albanel's only answer was: "I don't give a crap,
these are merely five dudes in a garage" (her words).

Of course, our task is not made easier by the fact that our hostile
fork (the "other" French Parti Pirate) is only using the buzz to harm
us and deliberately pretend neither us nor the PPI exist or do
anything. But, as I said, since we're being registered (and have
officially stated our commitment to the PPI), hopefully this will
change at some point.

Maybe I'll give you some more news in days to come; although the EU
vote is frustratingly out of range to us, we've never been busier
about pirate-related stuff and this alone is enthusiastic enough.

Regards,
Valentin