A fresh wind to politics?

(JB) Luxembourg's youngest political organisation the Pirate Party may not have any candidates standing in October's communal elections.

But they are keen to play a part in the democratic process and, as such, have issued a programme of recommendations for other hopeful candidates.

Among their advice they are calling for the “more public participation, transparency of municipal policy, prevention, privacy and data protection, mobility and accessibility, free culture and modern community infrastructure.”

Pirate Party spokesman Jerry Weyer explained: “We wanted to give some advice because politically Luxembourg is a bit old. There are two large parties which have been around for a long time. We're new, we're young and we have young ideas. We offer another perspective on things.”

The Pirate Party has attracted 104 members since it was founded in 2009. The name was inspired by the first Pirate Party founded in Sweden in 2006, whose ideals of “sharing” responsibility and ideas at grass roots level the party has adopted.

They took the deliberate decision not to put forward candidates in the communal elections on October 9 in order to build on the party's numbers and resources.

Mr Weyer said: “It's been two years since the party was set up and we don't have the infrastructure and the personnel to enter candidates this year. That's why since the beginning of we said we would focus on the 2014 communal elections. We asked everyone involved in the pirate party what they wanted to see in this year's elections so we said we would propose suggestions.”

The party has already developed some strong views with regard to the foreign voting system. Under Luxembourg law, foreign nationals who have lived in Luxembourg for five or more years can vote in communal elections provided they register with their commune. The Pirate Party would like foreign nationals to be automatically added to the electoral list as with Luxembourg nationals, to simplify the process.

The party also stresses the need for foreign nationals to learn the national languages.

“If you want to stay more than one or two years, it's important to learn the language. If you look at the Chambre des Deputés and a lot of the political meeting, all discussions are held in Luxembourgish. We think that learning the language is the best way for foreign nationals to become more involved in the politics here. There must be free or affordable Luxembourgish courses available. That way people can participate as they learn," said Mr Weyer.