Thanks to the German electoral system minor political parties are allowed to send representatives in the European Parliament.
The Pirate Party (Piratenpartei Deutschland), which was founded in September 2006, won one seat.
The new MEP is Dr. Patrick Breyer. He succeeds Julia Reda.
Breyer is a civil rights activist and lawyer. Between 2012 and 2017 he was a member of parliament in Schleswig-Holstein. He was the leading candidate of the Pirate Party Germany in the European elections in 2019.
“Europe has not just chosen a new voice of privacy and the free internet, but several,” he said.
“At various political levels, the Pirates have done a good job in the past – at the local level, at the state level and also in the European Parliament. We will continue this work at the European level and show that we take responsibility as a serious force. We will fight for a free society in which people can live self-determined and dignified,” added the Federal Chairman of the Pirate Party Germany Sebastian Alscher.
The Pirate MEP is no longer the only pirate in the European Parliament. The Czech Pirate party won three seats.
“Never before in Brussels have so many Pirates fought for our human rights in the digital age – the spies and filters can dress warmly. We Pirate members start immediately and meet in Brussels today,” Patrick Breyer added.
