Pirate Party election leader Marcel Kolaja: We want to turn the challenges that we face into opportunities

Marcel Kolaja is the leader of the Czech Pirate Party in the European elections. He is an IT specialist and internet freedom and digital rights activist and has served in the European Parliament since the 2019 elections.   

Europe has seen some tough years – the Covid pandemic, the energy crisis, economic problems and now the war in Ukraine that people fear may spill over. That opens the door to a lot of populism. What will be your message to voters and what can you offer to counterbalance those “easy solutions”?

“The Pirate Party has always been a party that makes decisions based on data. We really like the data-based approach and we are realistic. Our approach is not populist, we do not tell people about how the future will be great. We are open in saying and admitting that there are challenges that we have to overcome, but we would like to turn those challenges into opportunities. So when it comes to climate change, which is currently one of the biggest challenges we face, we point out that all parts of the world are going through an economic transition that is linked to a reaction to climate change and warn that if Europe does not go through the same economic transition, then we will be falling behind. And that is not something we want to happen.”

“If we don’t do anything against climate change it would be many times more expensive than going through the economic transition that other parts of the world are undertaking.”

On the other hand, people think about “here and now”. And Europe is not in good shape financially. Many people would argue that Europe can ill-afford to implement the Green Deal at this particular time. What would you say to those arguments?

“As a matter of fact, the cost of inaction –if we don’t do anything against climate change - would be many times more expensive than going through the economic transition that other parts of the world are undertaking, including the US, including China. If we want to live in a competitive Europe, we really need to go through the economic transition that is happening all around the world.”

Another big issue in this election debate is security. What is crucial for European security at this point?

“We have already mentioned the war in Ukraine; a war that is being fought directly at the border of the European Union. There is nothing more reasonable that we can do than to support Ukraine – from an economic perspective, from a security perspective and from a geopolitical-strategic perspective, and of course, morally it is the right thing to do. Not to support Ukraine would be to cross a red line that I would not want to cross.”

“Russia does not want to speak about peace; Putin only wants to speak about how to claim Ukrainian territory.”

How far should the EU go in supporting Ukraine – weapons, troops? There is a big debate now about the need for peace talks, because the military aid provided has not so far produced the desired result.

“I think there was always a time for peace talks, but there was no one to talk to. Russia does not want to speak about peace; Putin only wants to speak about how to claim Ukrainian territory. And I think that we –as Europe – should go as far as we have to, because , as I said, it is the most reasonable thing, from the economic perspective, security perspective – there is nothing more reasonable that we could do.”

“The Pirates have always been advocates of renewable energy sources and all that has happened over the past two years proves us right.”

Judging from what you have said, you would obviously also advocate and support gaining energy independence from Russia and increasing Europe’s defense capability –is that so?

“Actually, we felt, even some months before the war began, when Russia started manipulating the prices of fossil fuels, that this dependence on Russia, and the dependence on fossil fuels in general, is a major problem. The Pirates have always been advocates of renewable energy sources and all that has happened over the past two years proves us right.”

Let’s talk about European expansion. The European Commission recently released a report saying that the bloc could admit members in a gradual, reversible process without them being fully fledged at the outset, so as to support expansion, because expanding would give the bloc more clout in these insecure times. Would you support that? Is a bigger EU a stronger EU –in your view?

“Not necessarily always. In principle, of course, a bigger EU is a stronger EU, but not necessarily always. Because imagine now that Turkey would join the EU. That wouldn’t work. That would be a massive problem –it would make the union weaker. Therefore, the union has criteria that the countries that want to join have to fulfill, before accession. If those criteria are fulfilled then enlargement would lead to a stronger union.

“But there is one little catch. The EU has a problem in the decision-making process. In some areas –like defense and foreign policy-unanimity needs to be achieved in the Council of the European Union. And we have seen, in the course of the past two years, that this is a problem. Because Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, has blocked some of the sanctions that we wanted to impose on Russia.”

So you would be in favour of a qualified majority vote in this area?

“Absolutely. In most areas qualified majority voting is already used, like the internal market for instance, and it works really well there. This shows us that we need to expand the areas where qualified majority voting is used to include the areas of foreign policy and security.”

“If we let one person, literally one person, to block the whole of Europe, then it does not make Europe stronger.”

Looking at a future European Union – would you be more in favour of a close-knit Europe or a looser grouping of states?

“History shows us that the more unity we have shown, the stronger we were – including the time of the pandemic, for instance. I believe that we need to find a way to show this unity. If we let one person, literally one person to block the whole of Europe, then it does not make Europe stronger. Usually it really makes sense to have close cooperation.”

One very divisive issue in recent years has been migration. The war in Ukraine has led to a flood of refugees from that country, but before that there was a stream of migrants from the Middle East. It is a problem that Europe has had trouble coming to grips with. What is your take on the Migration Pact that was recently approved? Do you think that Europe is on the right path to solving the problems relating to migration?

“There has been a discussion about how to approach migration together – as Europe –and that discussion has been ongoing for a really long time now. So the solution is kind of overdue. On the other hand, I am not overly satisfied with the current outcome, but we do need some common solution. We spoke about the need for unity and how to approach things together, as Europe. Migration is one of these areas where we should really have a common approach.”

Do you have a vision, or a solution that you would be in favour of?

“I really think that these so-called “quotas”, or permanent relocation mechanism, as it is called in the legislation, is not a great solution.”

In an open Europe, in the Schengen space how would you guarantee relocation anyway?

“Well, exactly. That is one of my points. In Schengen, this is difficult to guarantee. And we all like Schengen. We want to move across Europe without borders. We are used to it now. We feel like this has been here forever, but I remember the times when the borders were there, when there were border checks and that is indeed annoying. The Schengen area is extremely helpful for the internal market, so it also helps Europe economically. But to return to the question of migration – we need a common approach, an approach that would guarantee that there are no disputes between the south and the north and the west and the east and that we make sure that we accept those who have the right to asylum because we are a civilized part of the world. On the other hand, when people do not have this right we must have an effective policy how to send them back to their country of origin.”

“The AI Act has basically legalized the use of remote biometric identification in public spaces under certain conditions. The exceptions to use it are really, really, broad and that is why the Pirates could not support it.”

Are there any other problem areas that you yourself feel to be important? We have not mentioned disinformation, data protection or AI regulation…

“When it comes to AI, Europe has been working on the first legislation that regulates the use of AI, and we indeed need rules to use AI because there are certain types of uses of artificial intelligence that are detrimental to the society. One extreme example is how they use artificial intelligence in China with a social scoring system that is really scary, that’s a dystopia. On the other hand, I am not completely satisfied with what has landed in the legislation when it comes to remote biometric identification such as facial recognition, because the AI Act has basically legalized the use of remote biometric identification in public spaces under certain conditions. The exceptions to use it are really, really, broad and that is why the Pirates could not support this AI Act.”

Finally, why should Czech voters go to the polls and why should they vote for your party?

“The elections are extremely important. All these policy areas that we have just discussed is exactly what is being decided in the European Parliament, so not going to vote means handing over that right to other people who will go to vote and then being surprised by the result. There are some political parties that are very populist, we have seen an increase in the popularity of the far right and so people may be surprised at the end of the day. So, yes, go and vote.

“As to, why for the Pirate Party? Because the Pirate Party is the only political party that offers a vision for the future. We realize what problems we are currently facing, including climate change and we want the planet to be available also as a habitat for our children. We realize what challenges we are facing in the economic area and we want to work on both of these challenges together and to turn them into opportunities, so as to make Europe more competitive.”

Marcel Kolaja has been a member of the Czech Pirate Party since 2010. In 2019, he was elected a Member of the European Parliament and until 2022, he served as Vice-President of the European Parliament. He now serves as Quaestor of the Parliament and is responsible for overseeing the administrative and financial matters of the institution. Marcel is also 1st Vice-President of the Czech Pirate Party. Marcel graduated from the Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University in Brno.