Germany’s Pirate Party Celebrates Historic Victory
Once the Greens were Germany’s political rebels. But on Sunday they lost their title to the Pirate Party, which won seats in a regional government for the first time. The success of their data-driven message took even the party itself by surprise.
…founded in 2006 on a civil liberties platform that focused on Internet freedoms — was sensational. Not only will the Pirate Party enter a regional government for the first time, but its results far outpaced the five percent hurdle needed for parliamentary representation.
The party focuses not only on classic themes like direct democracy, transparency and online data protection, but also on demands that would be unthinkable to traditional politicians. The party wants to see the introduction of an unconditional basic income, for example, and the legalization of soft drugs. >continue<
Meanwhile, the Free Democrats “imploded”. The demise of the CDU coalition partner presents a major risk to Angela Merkel’s euro rescue.
via zeitvox
