From PPI
CORETEAM MEETING MINUTES
PIRATE PARTY INTERNATIONAL
DECEMBER 10, 2009
1. ATTENDEES
1.1. Members of the PPI Coreteam
Present:
Samir Allioui (Coretx, Co-President)
Will Tovey (Duke, Chief Administration Officer)
Nicolas Sahlqvist (nicco, Financial)
Patrick Maechler (Valio, Co-President)
1.2. Others Present
Moira Brülisauer (Akallabeth, PPS)
Laurent Le Besnerais (cwicket, PPFr)
Stefan Richter (International Coordinator, PPDE)
Steffen Ortmann (Steffen0, PPDE)
2. PROCEEDINGS
Meeting opened at 20:07 (CET) by Valio.
Secretary for this meeting is Duke.
Quorum present with 4 Coreteam members.
Meeting closed at 23:17 (CET) by Valio.
Next meeting on Thursday, December 17, 2009 (subject to further discussion).
3. OPENING REMARKS
3.1 - The Coreteam would like to thank Cwicket for his work on behalf of PPI.
3.2 - The minutes from the previous meeting were discussed and it was noted that points 6.1, 6.6 and 6.7 were dealt with, and 6.2 is ongoing.
3.3 - Steffen0 was introduced as an applicant for the position of Social, Media & Grassroots Officer. He described his current status within PPDE and suitability for the role.
4. AGENDA
4.1 - Good guy versus Bad guy system is no longer working. - Proposed by Coretx
It was noted that the strategy of having a "good" and "bad" co-president had worked initially but was failing (as highlighted by the discussions on the general ML). Valio and Coretx agreed to discuss an alternate strategy in private and present it at the next meeting.
4.2 - Replacement for Cwicket? - Proposed by Nicco
It was noted that Cwicket resigned his position on the Coreteam and role as CTO. At least three potential replacements have put their names forward or been suggested for this role and are being investigated further. Concerns were raised about ensuring that the Coreteam is balanced between countries (and that Coreteam members should, ideally, not have official positions within PPs), but due to the urgency of the situation and limited number of applicants and for the sake of fairness, it was suggested more appropriate and sensible to select the best applicant regardless of nationality. Coretx registered that he would abstain on any vote concerning Aim (PPNL) being made a member of the Coreteam and would refuse to propose or contact him due to possible conflicts as PPI Co-president and PPNL leader. Those present unanimously thanked Cwicket for his work on behalf of the Coreteam and PPI.
4.3 - Removing 3 inactive users? - Proposed by Nicco
It was noted that there are several @pp-international.net accounts that do not belong to current Coreteam members and which have been inactive for some time. These accounts should only be used for official PPI business and as such, the inactive ones could be suspended or deleted. Suspension was preferred by some in the event that records were required, or they needed re-activation. Deletion was preferred by others due to concerns about data retention and privacy. It was proposed that Duke contact those account holders formally and ask if they would prefer their accounts to be deleted. Akallabeth noted that she was an advisor to the Coreteam and queried whether or not her account should be deleted. It was pointed out that all pirates are potential advisors and that an @pp-international.net account is not required for this.
Proposal passed (Yes: 4 | No: 0 | Abstain: 0)
4.4 - Change meeting time? - Proposed by Nicco
Nicco commented that he currently had another meeting scheduled for the same time as Coreteam meetings and that attending both was very stressful. The results of the poll[7.1] were examined. It was noted that a vote to change the meeting time must be unanimous and therefore could not take place at the meeting due to the absence of ninHer (although it was also noted that he had not been present in an official meeting since November 5 - Coretx agreed to attempt to contact him regarding this). It was suggested that an "emergency" meeting be held December 14 to deal with this one issue.
4.5 - Status of Bank Account? - Proposed by Nicco
The Bank account has been registered under the name of Pirate Party International, however the bank has not yet received the required paperwork from Coretx and so the account is still suspended. He agreed to resubmit it (through recorded delivery) and update the Coreteam when a response is received.
4.6 - Postpone PPI conference? - Proposed by Nicco
Nicco noted that the conference planning was not proceeding at a sufficient speed and would likely need to be delayed. He has been in contact with Mattias Bjarnemalm and it may be possible to receive funding through Christian Engström (MEP) for the travel expenses and some accommodation costs for between 20 and 50 delegates. He may also be able to offer conference space. The application process for this funding takes two months. Unfortunately the Polish delegation has already booked tickets for the conference and thus if it is delayed, PPI would be obliged to reimburse them for the expense. The funding supplied through CE would not be enough to cover the entire conference and so alternate sources would be required. Coretx noted that it would be possible to get anonymous donations from businesses but this would require an "offshore account" (costing €1600 to establish) and could raise objections from PPs over transparency issues. However, such donations would be strictly unconditional. Nicco was asked to reply to MaB explaining the situation and it was agreed to release a statement to PP leaders asking for any travel plans to be frozen, mentioning CE as a source of funding and opening a discussion on anonymous funding. It was also noted that PPI is a NGO.
4.7 - Person financially responsible for the event? - Proposed by Nicco
In the event that funding for the conference is received through CE it was noted that a person not directly affiliated with CE would need to be responsible for the finances (under rules for MEPs). Nicco was proposed as the obvious choice.
4.8 - Adopt PPI Logo - Proposed by Valio
It was noted that Sonja Erichsen (PPDE) has submitted a proposal for a PPI logo. While the work is greatly appreciated, Coretx commented that a full corporate ID is required. It was also considered unwise to vote on adopting a logo before having the SM&G role filled. Valio agreed to set up a collective response to the proposed logo.[7.2]
4.9 - Get in touch with PP-BE for the conference - Proposed by Valio
Valio agreed to contact Monica ? (PPBE) over the support PPBE can offer for the conference. Coretx agreed to forward contact details of S1kje (PPNL, used to live in Brussels) to Valio to assist.
4.10 - Status of the ACTA Taskforce - Proposed by Nicco
It was noted that PPI releases should be signed by PPs, not individuals. It was again noted that PPI does not exist as a political party but as an organisation to help establish and support individual PPs and aid communication between them. Any action by the ACTA Taskforce will be controlled by the taskforce and its members, rather than the Coreteam.
5. FINISHING NOTES
5.1 - PPS, PPCA & PPAT emails.
It was noted that the above parties have formally and similarly contacted the Coreteam concerning the status and future of PPI. Upon discussion, PPCA admitted that it had been misinformed and apologised, however the issue must still be dealt with. Duke volunteered to write a draft response to all three explaining the situation and offered to negotiate with PPS on behalf of the Coreteam if required (due to not being involved with previous issues concerning the Coreteam and PPS).
5.2 - MEP involvement with ACTA releases.
It was noted that the PP MEPs wish to have any statement concerning ACTA put by them to ensure it does not conflict with their position.
5.3 - Minutes and logs of meetings.
As issues surrounding the transparency of the Coreteam had been raised recently, the minutes for each meeting will be made available to the Coreteam when complete and then published on the wiki[7.3] after the subsequent meeting. Logs of the meetings will be kept and made available to PP officials on request, however they will not be published.
5.4 - Name of PPI
It was noted that on the int.pp.general Mailing list, PPI is named as "Pirate Parties International" not "Pirate Party International". The former name may be a better indication that PPI is not a political party.
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6. TO DO
6.1 Aim will be contacted regarding an interim position as CTO. (Valio)
6.2 Inactive @pp-international.net users will be contacted regarding the future of their accounts. (Duke)
6.3 A meeting on Monday to discuss changing the meeting time will be considered. (Coreteam)
6.4 Coretx will re-submit the documents required by the bank. (Coretx)
6.5 A message will be sent to the PP leaders concerning options for the conference. (Coreteam)
6.6 MaB will be informed of the details of the conference regarding funding. (Nicco)
6.7 Collective feedback on the proposed logo will be sent to Sonja Erichsen. (Coreteam)
6.8 Monica ? (PPBE) and S1kje (PPNL) will be contacted regarding the conference. (Valio)
6.9 A response to PPS/PPCA/PPO will be drafted and submitted explaining the current situation and purpose of PPI. (Duke)
7. LINKS
7.1 http://doodle.com/avvgc4wdiynm96a7 (Retrieved 22:00 GMT, 11/12/09)
7.2 http://etherpad.com/UQne4koowH (Retrieved 00:25 GMT, 11/12/09)
7.3 http://int.piratenpartei.de/Coreteam
