PPAU requests that the Court of Arbitration hears a challenge against motions relating to affiliation fees at the 2014 General Assembly, specifically due to recent minutes of the PPI Board indicating that they are likely to move ahead with attempts to acquire fees from members.
PPAU consents to abide by the decision of the Court of Arbitration.
This challenge relates to CoA powers XIVa(3)(a), (b), and (e), and relates to the functioning of the General Assembly and PPI Board.
The minutes in question can be found here: http://wiki.pp-international.net/Minutes_of_GA_2014
As there are no titles in the minutes, we cannot link to the relevant section.
Please search for the following to find it:
delay or not 9.5 in favour, 12 opposed, 2 abstentions Result: we discuss the hight of the fees now
As the minutes are a complete mess, we have attempted to decipher as best as possible what the actual proposals were to begin with, and what the conclusion is.
PPAU would like to note for posterity that these minutes are not of the quality expected of an international organisation and the members should seriously consider ensuring that the quality of the minutes is significantly improved in the future.
Based on our analysis we believe the events to be as follows:
- "Board MOP for Membership fees at PPI" begins
- Discussion occurs.
- A vote to delay voting and discussion does not carry.
- A vote on whether or not to discuss Gregory Engels' proposed HDI-based fees or a "1/10 proposal", which seems to mean 10% of the original HDI-based proposal.
- That vote results in a discussion of the 1/10 proposal.
- A motion by PPEE that parties with less than 500 members will choose their own fees, seems to have carried but is not noted in the minutes.
- A motion to have voluntary fees for all seem to not carry, not noted.
- A motion whether fees are wanted at all, based on the tenuous phrase in brackets "based on what we decided for so far" carries with 55.8% support (not including abstentions).
- The minutes then assert that what had been agreed to is as follows:
There will be membership fees, 1/10th of the original proposal, parties with less than 500 members can pay as much as they want (but a minimum of more than 0€), there are no penalties for not paying, observer membership is also not associated with any costs, the first fees are due for the next financial year (which begins tomorrow)
PPAU fails to see how such a result could be derived as:
- No conclusive vote as to the mechanism for determining the fees was carried, specifically no motion carried that meets the requirements of XVI(1) or (2);
- A feelings-based motion on whether fees are wanted carries, but it is a tenuous, meaningless motion, that is also not valid as per the statutes due to XI(2), which stipulates that annual affiliation fee motions must meet a two-thirds threshold;
- PPEE's motion does not specify that the fees must be greater than 0, and therefore the assertion is again false;
- Notwithstanding the above, due to no fee as per XVI(1) being determined, PPEE's motion is therefore irrelevant for the time being;
- "No penalties" was not agreed to nor discussed, and is also false due to XI(5), which stipulates that failure to pay fees can result in voting rights being suspended;
- No discussion or vote was taken regarding fees for observer members, and therefore the tenuous assertion is without purpose or merit as it bears no relevance to the discussion at hand; and
- No vote affirming the complex assertion being questioned here is recorded within the minutes.
XI Voting
[
snip](2) Decisions concerning the admission of new Members (section III. paragraph 4), the exclusion of Members (section VII, paragraph 2), the determination of the annual affiliation fee (section XVI, paragraph 1) and the amendment of this[sic] Statutes (section XX), shall be passed by a two thirds majority of the votes cast.
[
snip]XV. Funding
Pirate Parties International expenditure shall be covered by:
a) affiliation fees from the Ordinary Members parties and those with Observer status,
[
snip]XVI. Affiliation Fees
(1) The amount of the fee is determined annually by the General Assembly.
(2) The affiliation fees and contributions shall be fixed in relation to the finances and membership of parties.
XI(2) clearly stipulates that motions relating to XVI(1) must carry with a two-thirds majority of votes cast.
XV(a) implies that observer members should be included in any calculation of affiliation fees in XVI.
XVI as a whole seems to imply that (1) should be a fixed number, and that (2) should apply a formula to that number consistently in relation to size and finances of a party, without exception.
Recent minutes of the PPI board state that the board intends to soon begin requesting membership fees, but these very same minutes put into question whether or not the banking situation has been resolved sufficiently to begin taking large amounts of money from around the world.
Relevant URLs:
- http://wiki.pp-international.net/PPI_Minutes_2014-11-29#3_Short_Reports
- http://wiki.pp-international.net/PPI_Minutes_2014-12-09#3_Short_Reports
- http://wiki.pp-international.net/PPI_Minutes_2014-12-09#7_Financial_Situation
- http://wiki.pp-international.net/PPI_Minutes_2014-12-09#8_AOB_.28being_urgent.29
XVII. Treasurer
[
snip](3) The Board is responsible for the sound financial management of Pirate Parties International.
XVII is an odd place to put a requirement of the PPI board to be sure, but it is a requirement of the statutes that the board soundly manages the finances of PPI, and this has been put into question.
We request that the Court of Arbitration does the following:
- Immediately introduces an injunction against the PPI board regarding requesting or accepting membership fees until this case is concluded, as per the powers of XIVa(1) and (3)(a);
- Makes a determination that "fixed in relation to the finances and membership of parties" should be interpreted to mean a consistently applied formula for determining fees based on that criteria, without exception;
- Makes a determination that the General Assembly did not approve any affiliation fee that would meet the requirements of XVI(1), either due to lack of a motion meeting those requirements, or a motion failing to carry due to the requirements of XI(2);
- Makes a determination that motions relating to affiliation fees must meet all of the requirements of XI(2), XVI(1) and XVI(2);
- Makes a determination as to whether or not XVI applies to observer members, as XV(a) seems to imply;
- Makes a determination as to whether or not the current PPI board is meeting the requirements of XVII(3), which is necessary for the purpose of knowing whether it is safe to send affiliation fees to the PPI board. Should the board be found to not be meeting these requirements, they should be required to apply to the CoA for a determination on whether they meet XVII(3) prior to requesting any affiliation fees in the future, and;
- Makes a determination that any attempt by the PPI board to accrue affiliation fees to be without authority or basis until a future General Assembly resolves otherwise.