Y'Argh! Pirate Party Matey Joins European Greens

The Pirate Party candidate elected in last month's European Parliamentary elections has joined the Green Party/European Free Alliance. It has not gone unnoticed by Canada's Green Party.

Sweden's Christian Engström, representing the Pirate Party, which aims to reform European copyright and patent laws, was swept to victory in the European Parliamentary elections. Now he will sit in the Green Party/European Free Alliance Group. In a statement, Greens/EFA Co-Presidents Rebecca Harms and Daniel Cohn-Bendit decalared that they are "delighted to welcome the Swedish Pirate Party, which shares our principles and values in defending internet users' rights. Christian Engström will have an independent status within our group and he has indicated he will support the Greens/EFA position in areas where the Pirate Party has no agenda." The Greens/EFA won a combined 53 seats in the European Parliament. The addition of Engström brings their group total to 54 seats. The decision was not lost on the Green Party of Canada, which released a statement of their own. Green Party of Canada leader, Elizabeth May said that "Canadians need only look to Europe to see that Greens are in the forefront of combating restrictive patent and copyright laws." The Green Party previously called the Conservative Government's proposed changes to copyright law in Canada a "Big Brother Bill", and said that "copyright legislation must balance creator and consumer interests." Many have wondered whether Canada would be benefit from having its own Pirate Party. But May quashed any support for it in an interview, saying that Canada doesn't "need a pirate party in Canada because we got the Green Party."