Pirate Party Germany

The party supports the preservation of current civil rights in telephony and on the Internet; in particular, it opposes the European data retention policies.

The party favors the civil right to information privacy and reforms of copyright, education, genetic patents and drug policy.

In particular, it promotes an enhanced transparency of government by implementing open source governance and providing for APIs to allow for electronic inspection and monitoring of government operations by the citizen.{{cite web|url=https://wiki.piratenpartei.de/Parteiprogramm |title=Program of the Piratenpartei (German) |language=de |publisher=Wiki.piratenpartei.de |access-date=9 June 2014}}

The Pirate Party also supports an unconditional basic income for citizens{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/18/germany-pirate-party-political-gap |title=The Pirate Party fits the political gap |date=18 May 2012 |last=Zeh|first=Juli |newspaper=The Guardian}}{{cite web|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/pirate-party-emerges-as-political-force-in-germany-a-823993.html |title=Pirate Party Emerges as Political Force in Germany - SPIEGEL ONLINE |publisher=Spiegel.de |date=28 March 2012 |access-date=9 June 2014}} and direct democracy via e-democracy.{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/world/la-xpm-2012-jun-08-la-fg-germany-pirate-party-20120608-story.html | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | first=Aaron | last=Wiener | title=In Germany, a ragtag Pirate Party raids politics | date=8 June 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15917469,00.html |title=Germany's Pirate Party readies for regional polls | News | DW.DE | 29.04.2012 |publisher=DW.DE |date=29 April 2012 |access-date=9 June 2014}}

File:Pirate Party Germany Candidates.jpg in Berlin (presentation of the board candidates)]]

The party was founded on 10 September 2006 by students and young people inspired by the recently founded Swedish Pirate Party.{{cite news |last=Kulish |first=Nicholas |date=5 May 2012 |title=Direct Democracy, 2.0 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/sunday-review/direct-democracy-2-0.html?ref=nicholaskulish |work=New York Times |location= |access-date=7 July 2023 |quote=The Pirate Party was founded in Sweden by the former software entrepreneur Rick Falkvinge on Jan. 1, 2006, to reform copyright and patent law and to strengthen online privacy. The party’s profile rose after Swedish police officers raided the popular file-sharing site The Pirate Bay that May. By September of that year a German branch had formed.}}{{cite news |last=Dick |first=Wolfgang |date=24 November 2012 |title=Pirates on the hook |url=https://www.dw.com/en/where-is-the-german-pirate-party-headed/a-16401592 |work=dw.com |location= |access-date=7 July 2023 |quote=In autumn 2006, several hundred young people joined forces to launch the Pirate Party in Germany.}}{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Gareth |date=3 April 2012 |title=Germany's Pirates surge in poll after local election |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-pirates-poll/germanys-pirates-surge-in-poll-after-local-election-idUSBRE83207R20120403 |work=Reuters |location= |access-date=7 July 2023 |quote=The [German] Pirates are an offshoot of a party that emerged in Sweden six years ago to campaign for reform of copyright, free Internet downloads and more protection of personal data.}}

In June 2009, Bundestag member Jörg Tauss left the SPD and joined the Pirate Party{{cite news|url=http://www.piratenbrandenburg.de/2009/06/mdb-jorg-tauss-wechselt-zur-piratenpartei|title=MdB Jörg Tauss wechselt zur Piratenpartei|date=20 June 2009|publisher=Piratenpartei Brandenburg|access-date=26 January 2012|language=de}} after the {{lang|de|Zugangserschwerungsgesetz}} was passed, but left the Pirate Party in 2010 when he was convicted for possession of child pornography.{{cite web | last=Zeitung | first=Badische | title=Tauss verlässt Piratenpartei | website=badische-zeitung.de | date=31 May 2010 | url=http://www.badische-zeitung.de/suedwest-1/tauss-verlaesst-piratenpartei--31701701.html | language=de | access-date=7 March 2015}} In late August 2009, Herbert Rusche, one of the founding members of the German Green Party and, in the 1980s, the first openly gay member of parliament in Germany, joined the Pirate Party.{{Citation |url=http://www.bild.de/BILD/regional/frankfurt/dpa/2009/08/27/gruenengruender-rusche-wechselt-zur-piratenpartei.html |newspaper=Bild Zeitung |date=27 August 2009 |title=Grünen-Gründer Rusche wechselt zur Piratenpartei|language=de}}.

The party first began to contest elections in 2009; firstly in the 2009 European Parliament election in Germany and then the 2009 German federal election. Although the party received no seats in either election, the pirates performed well in the Federal election, obtaining 1.95% of the vote. This was the best showing of any party without any national representation. Budding support for the party was galvanised by activism against online censorship laws introduced in Germany that year.{{cite news |last=Theile |first=Merlind |date=26 June 2009 |title=Pirate Party Makes Bid for German Parliament |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/fighting-for-internet-freedom-pirate-party-makes-bid-for-german-parliament-a-632876.html |work=Der Spiegel |location= |access-date=7 July 2023}}{{cite news |last=Heller |first=Martin |date=3 July 2009 |title=Pirates Anchor in Berlin |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/making-political-history-pirates-anchor-in-berlin-a-634131.html |work=Der Spiegel |location= |access-date=7 July 2023 |quote=}} The result impressed journalists, who began speculating that the Pirates could have the same trajectory as the Green Party, beginning as a single-issue protest party before transforming into a deeper organisation.{{cite news |last=Reißmann |first=Ole |date=29 September 2009 |title=Pirates Plunder Germany's Big-Party Voters |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/election-raiding-party-pirates-plunder-germany-s-big-party-voters-a-651748.html |work=Der Spiegel |location= |access-date=7 July 2023}}

File:Bundesvorstand Piratenpartei 2012.jpg

The party's first major electoral success came at the 2011 Berlin state election, when the party entered a state parliament for the first time after the Berlin party chapter received 8.9 per cent of the votes for the state parliament of Berlin and all 15 of its candidates were elected.{{cite web |url=http://www.wahlen-berlin.de/wahlen/BE2011/Ergebnis/region/a2-GI9900.asp?sel1=1052&sel2=0655&tabtitel=Berlin |title=Die Landeswahlleiterin für Berlin - Berliner Wahlen 2011 - Ergebnisse nach Regionen - Zweitstimmen - Ergebnistabelle |work=wahlen-berlin.de |access-date=19 September 2011 |archive-date=16 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016163158/http://www.wahlen-berlin.de/wahlen/BE2011/Ergebnis/region/a2-GI9900.asp?sel1=1052&sel2=0655&tabtitel=Berlin |url-status=dead }} The results shocked even the party itself and a wave of euphoria washed over the membership.{{cite news |last= |first= |date=19 September 2009 |title=Germany's Pirate Party Celebrates Historic Victory |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-new-rebels-germany-s-pirate-party-celebrates-historic-victory-a-787044.html |work=Der Spiegel |location= |access-date=7 July 2023}} The election in Berlin, held in September, had coincided with the start of the international Occupy Movement, and many journalists attributed the same sentiment fueling the Occupy Movement as also providing support for Pirate Parties internationally.{{cite news |last=Pidd |first=Helen |date=28 October 2011 |title=Pirate party leads new breed out to change European politics |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/28/pirate-party-european-politics |work=The Guardian |location= |access-date=7 July 2023}}{{cite news |last=Jardine |first=Nick |date=6 December 2011 |title=Meet The Man Who Founded The Pirate Party That Is Spreading Through European Parliaments |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/rick-falkvinge-interview-pirate-party-occupy-wall-street-2011-12?r=US&IR=T |work=Business Insider |location= |access-date=7 July 2023}}{{cite journal |last1=Fredriksson Almqvist |first1=Martin |date=July 2016 |title=Pirate politics between protest movement and the parliament |url=https://ephemerajournal.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/16-2almqvist.pdf |journal=Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organisation |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=97–114 |doi= |access-date=7 July 2023}}

In the Spring of 2012, the Pirates won seats in three other German federal states and by August 2012 the party had around 35,000 members.{{cite web|url=http://tagesschau.de/inland/schloemer112.html|first=Oliver|last=Neuroth|title=Parteichef Schlömer 100 Tage im Amt: Der Ober-Pirat und der Mut zur Lücke|publisher=Tagesschau|date=6 August 2012|language=de|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120909082316/http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/schloemer112.html|archive-date=9 September 2012}} National polling showed surging support for the party{{cite news |first=William |last=Boston |title='Pirates' Deal a Blow to Germany's Political Status Quo |date=10 April 2012 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304587704577333922727849932 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=29 May 2012 }} with the Irish Times referring to the Pirates as "the third most popular party in Germany" following a poll by Stern magazine which placed the party on 13% national support.{{cite news |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0412/1224314639181.html |title=German Pirate Party third most popular |newspaper=The Irish Times |first=Derek |last=Scally |date=12 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413073003/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0412/1224314639181.html |archive-date=13 April 2012}} ''

{{See also|Opinion polling for the 2013 German federal election}}

This would functionally be the high watermark for the party, which subsequently went into a steady decline and was never able to recover from it.

File:Piratenpartei-Deutschland-Mitgliederentwicklung.svg

In October 2012, Der Spiegel published an article titled "Voters Growing Disillusioned with Germany's Pirate Party". The article noted the now declining support for the party and outlined several probable reasons for this. Amongst flaws in the party Der Spiegel suggested were:

• many Pirate politicians were political amateurs and struggled to find their footing once elected{{cite news |last= |first= |date=25 October 2012 |title=Voters Growing Disillusioned with Germany's Pirate Party |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-voters-grow-disillusioned-with-pirate-party-a-863234.html |work=Der Spiegel |location= |access-date=7 July 2023}}
• the party's libertarian and anti-authoritarian nature made it difficult for strong leadership to be established
• the bohemian and eccentric nature of Pirate Party politicians made it difficult for them to function as one unit. Infighting was common, as were publicity stunts which often backfired.
• the lack of cohesion in pirate ideology meant that outside of issues relating to the Internet, Pirate Party politicians struggled to form coherent policy positions.

A 2016 article entitled "The Rise and Fall of the Pirate Party" in The New Republic echoed the above sentiments but also quoted the thoughts of one party activist, who stated "Our biggest problem was that we let everyone in who wanted to join, and most of them were apolitical. They weren’t interested in politics. I couldn’t take it anymore. Every political opinion was tolerated. I’d go to a Party convention and there would be, like, Holocaust deniers there."

The party floundered at the 2013 Lower Saxony state election in January as well as the 2013 Bavarian state election in September, each time only securing 2% of the vote, not enough to break Germany's 5% threshold for political parties to gain seats. These results foreshadowed the party's poor performance at the 2013 German federal election. Der Spiegel opined in a September 2013 article that the Pirate Pirate could have thrived in the 2013 Federal election if it was more organised; a major issue during the campaign was the topic of spying, following revelations over the summer that the American National Security Agency was conducting large scale spying operations in Germany and France.

The party was unable to right the ship by the time of the 2016 Berlin state election; the party secured only a 1.7% share of the vote and lost all 15 of its seats in what had previously been its stronghold. The sense of terminal decline was compounded days after the result when Gerwald Claus-Brunner, an assembly member who had just lost his seat, murdered a former intern before killing himself.

Following the Berlin wipeout, many declared the Pirate Party a dead political project; former party leader {{ill|Martin Delius|de|Martin Delius}} and former party Chairman {{ill|Christopher Lauer|de|Christopher Lauer}} left the party and publicly expressed that they did not wish to see it continue.

In late 2018, just over two years after the Claus-Brunner scandal, the party was rocked by a sexual harassment scandal, with Gilles Bordelais, one of its candidates for the European elections, at its centre. Bordelais was an employee of the party's MEP Felix Reda and was placed under investigation for sexual harassment of European Parliament employees. Despite the fact that Reda had provided timely notification to the party's Board, the Board failed to act on the information provided, keeping him on the ballot.{{Citation |url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/german-parliament-administration-failed-to-address-sexual-harrassment-says-julia-reda-former-rising-star-of-germany-pirate-party/ |title=EU Parliament failed to address sexual harassment, says outgoing Pirate Party star |publisher=Euractiv|date=10 April 2019 |language=en |access-date=2025-03-29 |archive-date=26 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926105505/https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/german-parliament-administration-failed-to-address-sexual-harrassment-says-julia-reda-former-rising-star-of-germany-pirate-party/ }}. This prompted Reda to resign from the party and politics in general, announcing his decision on 27 March 2019, in an online video protesting the party's inaction on the matter.{{citation |title=Warum die Piraten zur Europawahl unwählbar sind: Kandidat Gilles Bordelais |date=27 March 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2qS56P-7kA |language=de |trans-title=Why the Pirates in the European election should not be elected: candidate Gilles Bordelais}} Following Reda's resignation and withdrawal, the party continued its electoral decline at the local, state, federal, and European level.

In the 2025 German federal election, it received only 0.03% of the national vote (13,800 total voters).{{Cite web |title=Ergebnisse Deutschland - Die Bundeswahlleiterin |url=https://www.bundeswahlleiterin.de/en/bundestagswahlen/2025/ergebnisse/bund-99.html |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=www.bundeswahlleiterin.de}}

On 27 September 2009, the Pirates received 1.95% (845,870 votes) in the 2009 German federal election, thus not securing any seats in the Bundestag. However, this was still the best result among parties that did not meet the 5% threshold. Among first-time male voters, the party received 13%.{{Citation |url=http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20090928-22209.html |title=Pirate Party fires broadside at German political establishment |newspaper=The Local |date=28 September 2009 |first=Kristen |last=Allen }}

On account of the election results in 2009, the party met the conditions for receiving public allowances, a status it lost in 2024. For 2009, it received €31,504.68 (the same amount as it received from private contributions) which was exclusively due to the Pirates state associations Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. The calculation was made based on the total receipts of the party in 2008. The possible upper limit of the public allowance matching for the party is a rate of €840,554.51.[http://andipopp.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/parteienfinanzierung_2009.pdf Gesamtübersicht Festsetzung der staatlichen Teilfinanzierung für das Jahr 2009 gemäß §§ 18 ff. PartG] (in German), dated: 21 January 2010.

File:Piraten de ew 2009.svg

It received 229,117 votes in the 2009 European Parliament election, which was 0.9%, but not enough for a seat.[http://www.wiwo.de/technologie/digitale-welt/topraks-technik-talk-acht-gruende-fuer-die-piratenpartei/5154542.html Acht Gründe für die Piratenpartei] Wirtschaftswoche; 13 June 2006. in German

On 30 August 2009, the Pirates received 1.9% in the 2009 Saxony state election. On the same day, the party also received one seat in each council in the local elections of Münster and Aachen, although candidates of the party ran for office only in some constituencies of both cities.[http://www.gulli.com/news/wahlen-piraten-ziehen-in-2009-08-30 Piraten ziehen in Stadträte ein] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200714192803/http://www.gulli.com/news/wahlen-piraten-ziehen-in-2009-08-30 |date=14 July 2020 }} (German), gulli.com, 30 August 2009

Support for The Pirates differs somewhat between States. The party received 1.8% in the 2009 Schleswig-Holstein state election and 1.5% in the 2010 North Rhine-Westphalia state election (though without securing seats),{{cite web | last=Thoma | first=Jörg | title=Schleswig-Holstein: Piratenpartei zieht in den Landtag ein | website=Golem.de | date=6 May 2012 | url=http://www.golem.de/news/schleswig-holstein-piratenpartei-zieht-in-den-landtag-ein-1205-91595.html | language=de | access-date=7 March 2015}}{{cite web | title=Wer warum die Piratenpartei wählt, Publikationen, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung | website=Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung | date=19 December 2014 | url=http://www.kas.de/wf/de/33.31029/ | language=de | access-date=7 March 2015}} but only 0.5% in the 2009 Hesse state election and did not participate in the 2009 Brandenburg and Saarland state elections.

The party received 2.1% in the 2011 Hamburg state elections, though it was not yet enough to gain seats in the State parliament. In the 2011 Baden-Württemberg state election the Pirate Party was able to repeat this result. In the 2011 Saxony-Anhalt state election they received 1.4% or 13,828 votes; in the 2011 Rhineland-Palatinate state election they achieved 1.6% of the votes.

File:2011 Berlin state election - Pirate results.svg

In the 2011 Berlin state election, with 8.9% of the votes{{cite web | title=Nach 8,9% in Berlin: Erobern die Piraten jetzt ganz Deutschland? | website=BILD.de | date=20 September 2011 | url=http://www.bild.de/politik/inland/piratenpartei/erobern-die-piraten-jetzt-ganz-deutschland-20045890.bild.html | language=de | access-date=7 March 2015}} the Pirate Party of Berlin managed for the first time to overcome the 5% threshold and to win seats (numbering 15 out of 141 seats in the {{lang|de|Abgeordnetenhaus}}) in a German state parliament.{{cite web | url = http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15397392,00.html | title =Social Democrats win Berlin elections, Pirate Party enters legislation | access-date = 18 September 2011 | publisher= Deutsche Welle }} This was quite a surprise for them, since they only had 15 candidates on the ballot. In response to their election, however, Mayor Klaus Wowereit criticized their lack of diversity, most notably the lack of women in the party.{{cite news|last=Kulish|first=Nicholas|title=Pirates' Strong Showing in Berlin Elections Surprises Even Them|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/world/europe/in-berlin-pirates-win-8-9-percent-of-vote-in-regional-races.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1|access-date=6 October 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=19 September 2011}}

In March 2012, the Pirates received 7.4% of the vote{{Citation |url=http://www.statistikextern.saarland.de/wahlen/wahlen/2012/internet_saar/LT_SL_12/landesergebnisse/ |title=preliminary official election result (percent) |date=26 March 2012 |language=de |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506134156/http://www.statistikextern.saarland.de/wahlen/wahlen/2012/internet_saar/LT_SL_12/landesergebnisse/ |archive-date=6 May 2016}} and thus won four seats{{Citation |url=http://www.statistikextern.saarland.de/wahlen/wahlen/2012/internet_saar/LT_SL_12/landesergebnisse/grafik_sitze_10.html |title=preliminary official election result (seats) |date=26 March 2012 |language=de |access-date=26 March 2012 |archive-date=28 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028171254/http://www.statistikextern.saarland.de/wahlen/wahlen/2012/internet_saar/LT_SL_12/landesergebnisse/grafik_sitze_10.html |url-status=dead }} in the Landtag of Saarland.

In May 2012, they won 8.2% of the vote in Schleswig-Holstein, which was sufficient to enter the state parliament, gaining six seats, being led by Torge Schmidt from 2013 until 2017.{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-06/merkel-s-cdu-has-worst-result-since-1950-in-schleswig-holstein.html |publisher=Bloomberg News |first=Patrick |last=Donahue |title=Merkel's CDU Sees Worst Schleswig-Holstein Result Since 1950 |date=7 May 2012 }} Also in May 2012, they won 7.8% of the vote in North Rhine-Westphalia, gaining 20 seats.

After those successful state elections, the party was able to score up to 13% in nationwide polls.{{cite web|url=http://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/forsa.htm |title=Sonntagsfrage – Forsa (Wahlumfragen zur Bundestagswahl) |publisher=Wahlrecht.de |access-date=9 June 2014}} However, after a string of scandals{{Cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-voters-grow-disillusioned-with-pirate-party-a-863234.html|title=German Voters Grow Disillusioned with Pirate Party|newspaper=Der Spiegel|date=25 October 2012}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/137305/rise-fall-pirate-party|title = The Rise and Fall of the Pirate Party|magazine = The New Republic|date = 29 September 2016|last1 = Huetlin|first1 = Josephine}} and internal disputes which were handled unprofessionally and picked up by the media, the party lost the trust of voters and entered a steady decline in polls,{{cite news |last=Reinbold |first=Fabian |last2=Meiritz|first2=Annett |date=19 September 2013 |title=Germany's Struggling Pirate Party |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/pirate-party-fails-to-capitalize-on-nsa-scandal-a-923303.html |work=Der Spiegel |location= |access-date=7 July 2023}} from which it never recovered.

As a result, in the Lower Saxony state election in January 2013, the Pirate Party was only able to gain about 2.1% of the votes, missing the 5% threshold needed to gain actual seats in the state parliament. Six months later during the Bavaria state election of 2013 the Pirates fared similarly, receiving again only 2% of the votes. At the 2013 German federal elections the following weekend, the party suffered another major defeat where it was again only able to achieve 2.2% of the votes, leading to the resignation of party leader {{Interlanguage link|Bernd Schlömer|de}}.{{cite news| url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/piraten-chef-schloemer-tritt-ab-a-924194.html | newspaper=Spiegel Online| title= Wahldebakel: Piraten-Chef Schlömer gibt Amt auf | language=de}}

File:Berlin, Plakat „Gebt das Hanf frei!“, Piratenpartei 2014-07.jpg

File:EP, Brusel, Julia Reda.jpg – the Pirate MEP for the 2014 to 2019 term.]]

In the 2014 European parliament elections, the Pirate Party received 1.45% of the national vote (424,510 votes in total) and returned a single Member of the European Parliament.{{cite web |url=http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/de/europawahlen/EU_BUND_14/ergebnisse/bundesergebnisse/ |title=Übersicht |publisher=Bundeswahlleiter.de |access-date=9 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705072802/http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/de/europawahlen/EU_BUND_14/ergebnisse/bundesergebnisse/ |archive-date=5 July 2015}} The elected MEP, Felix Reda, joined the Greens–European Free Alliance as an independent.{{cite web | last=Pogliani | first=Silvia | title=Up-to-date list of the MEPs for the new legislative period | website=The Greens | url=http://www.greens-efa.eu/up-to-date-list-of-the-meps-for-the-new-legislative-period-12490.html | access-date=7 March 2015}}

The Berlin state election on September witnessed the collapse of support for the Pirate Party in their erstwhile stronghold of Berlin. Their previous vote of 8.9% achieved in 2011 fell to 1.7% and the Pirate Party lost all representation in the Berlin State assembly. The poor result was compounded by the murder-suicide of former Pirate Party assembly member Gerwald Claus-Brunner.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/22/gerwald-claus-brunner-german-pirate-party-politician-confessed-before-suicide|title=German Pirate party politician 'confessed to murder before suicide'|website=TheGuardian.com|date=22 September 2016}}

Together with the satirical party {{Lang|de|Die PARTEI|italic=no}} the Pirate Party nominated {{ill|Engelbert Sonneborn|de}} as candidate for the German presidential election in February 2017.{{cite news |url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/bundespraesidentenwahl-2017-sonneborn-sucht-gegenkandidaten-14834365-p2.html |title=Mein Vater könnte das |author=Martin Sonneborn |date=6 February 2017 |access-date=13 February 2017 |newspaper=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |language=de }}

The Pirate Party continued to decline in 2017, dropping out from state parliaments. In the Saarland state election in March 2017, the Pirate Party received only 0.7% of the voter share and therefore lost all its seats in the Landtag of the Saarland.{{cite web | publisher=Statistisches Amt Saarland | author=Landeswahlleiterin Saarland | title=Election results for the 2017 Saarland state parliament elections | website=statistikextern.saarland.de | url=http://www.statistikextern.saarland.de/wahl/internet_saar/LT_SL/landesergebnisse/ | language=de | access-date=30 March 2017 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326214946/http://www.statistikextern.saarland.de/wahl/internet_saar/LT_SL/landesergebnisse/ | archive-date=26 March 2017}} With the North Rhine-Westphalia state election in which it lost every seat, the Pirate Party is no longer represented in any state parliament.

In the 2019 European Parliament election, the Pirate Party received a 0.65% share of the national vote (243,302 total votes) and retained their MEP seat, with their lead candidate Patrick Breyer being elected.{{Cite web |title=Ergebnisse Deutschland - Die Bundeswahlleiterin |url=https://www.bundeswahlleiterin.de/europawahlen/2019/ergebnisse/bund-99.html |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=www.bundeswahlleiterin.de}}

In the 2021 federal election, the Pirate Party received 0.37% of the national vote (169,587 votes in total).{{Cite web |title=Ergebnisse Deutschland - Die Bundeswahlleiterin |url=https://www.bundeswahlleiterin.de/en/bundestagswahlen/2021/ergebnisse/bund-99.html |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=www.bundeswahlleiterin.de}}

In the 2024 European Parliament election, the Pirate Party lost all representation in the European Parliament, receiving 0.47% of the national vote (186,683 votes in total).{{Cite web |title=Ergebnisse Deutschland - Die Bundeswahlleiterin |url=https://www.bundeswahlleiterin.de/europawahlen/2024/ergebnisse/bund-99.html |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=www.bundeswahlleiterin.de}} Due to these results, it lost its eligibility for state funding, as per Section 18 of German Law on Political Parties (Parteiengesetz).{{cite web |title=§ 18 PartG - Einzelnorm |url=https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/partg/__18.html |website=Bundesamt für Justiz |publisher=Bundesamt für Justiz |access-date=1 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250221154619/https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/partg/__18.html |archive-date=21 February 2025 |language=German}}

In the 2025 federal election, the Pirate Party received 0.03% of the national vote (13,800 votes in total).{{Cite web |title=Ergebnisse Deutschland - Die Bundeswahlleiterin |url=https://www.bundeswahlleiterin.de/en/bundestagswahlen/2025/ergebnisse/bund-99.html |access-date=2025-03-06 |website=www.bundeswahlleiterin.de}}

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{{reflist}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Piratenpartei Deutschland}}
• {{Official website}} {{in lang|de}}
• {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618060710/http://junge-piraten.de/ |date=18 June 2015 |title=Youth organisation - Junge Piraten}}

{{Pirate Party}}

{{Parties of Germany}}

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Category:Political parties supporting universal basic income