In May 2013, in the run-up to the local elections on 20 October, the party’s slogan was “restart Luxembourg.” “We chose this slogan for the following reason: with a computer, the first thing you do when you don’t know what to do is reboot it. Luxembourg should also be rebooted, before any more serious problems are diagnosed,”  . Ten years later, the party’s coordinator  explained in an interview with Le Quotidien during the local elections campaign that his party’s good dynamic was due to “the good atmosphere that reigns internally,” explaining that this was what set it apart from other parties. A few months later, it seems that new software has been installed and a reboot is inevitable.

The first bug was the departure on 12 February of , who co-founded the Pirate party in Luxembourg in 2009. The entrepreneur, who is active in the digital sector, did not elaborate on his departure. Weyer’s departure was followed by that of , who announced on 15 July that he was leaving the party. The third Pirate MP cited reasons linked to the management of political sensitivity in the Chamber of Deputies. Initially sitting as an independent, Polidori joined the LSAP fraction in the Chamber of Deputies on 19 September.

Deep-rooted enmities brought to light

This departure has driven a wedge between the party’s two leading MPs, Clement and Goergen.

Goergen blamed Polidori’s departure on the Clement’s handling of the MALT (mobile assisted language tool) translation application, which Polidori allegedly found problematic. The affair came to light on 13 June and related to the development of a translation application for the National Reception Office (Office national de l’accueil).

Constituted as an ASBL, the party had won the public contract--in this case two contracts, one signed in 2016 and the other in 2017--to create this application, with the work being carried out in cooperation with Clement & Weyer Consulting, a company owned by Sven Clement and Jerry Weyer. The total cost of the project was €207,000. In 2022, the Inspectorate General of Finances ruled that invoices amounting to €96,000 were inadmissible and should be reimbursed. The party refused. For his part, Clement denied any wrongdoing.

Above all, the affair illustrated the disagreement between the two MPs. While Goergen made the MALT dossier public, Clement countered by accusing his colleague of having abused funds belonging to the party by making payments to private companies close to Goergen and using the party’s credit card for personal purposes. Clement also accused Goergen of creating a hostile working environment. In response, Goergen told RTL radio on 19 July that “most of the staff of the political persuasion wanted to work with me and not with Sven Clement.”

The call for reform

On 9 August, Pirates spokesman spoke of “a difficult period” and called for the party’s operations to be reformed, in particular through “a new distribution of responsibilities” and a “concrete change in procedures.” His aim: “to ensure a better future together.”

This will be without Steven Curfs, local councillor in Mondercange, and Vincenzo Turcarelli, local councillor in Käerjeng, who announced on 18 August that they were leaving the party to sit as independents. The two councillors justify their decisions by explaining that they no longer agree with the way the party is managed and run.

And it will probably be without Daniel Frères, local councillor for Remich, who is threatening to leave the party if the problems are not ironed out at--and preferably even before--the next party congress, due to be held before the end of the year. If the situation does not improve, he will found his own party called “Déiereschutz a Mënscheschutz Partei” (Party for the Protection of Animals and Humans), a party where all the members would be volunteers and where the finances would be managed by a trustee.

Do these departures foreshadow others? Clement admits that it must have been a tough summer for elected representatives and activists. But he hopes that the process launched to address the problems will bear fruit. “If there is a real desire for change, everything will be fine. But if a few people wanted to block the process…,” he says, refusing to name names, the adventure of the Pirates in Luxembourg could come to an end. At least in its current form.

What would be the best reform in his view? To answer this question, Clement refers back to his proposals in 2019, when he left the party presidency: “renew the leadership and the faces.” He acknowledges that on this point success has not been forthcoming, but still believes that broadening the party’s visibility beyond its MPs is the right way forward. The same goes for ensuring that the leadership is in a position to make decisions. “This is something that has not been done properly in recent weeks and months.” And here again, he doesn’t want to point the finger at anyone. He simply points out that he has “never attacked a person or their family.”

Armed peace

In the meantime, a modus vivendi seems to have been found between himself and Goergen at the start of the new parliamentary term. A sort of armed peace. There is no question of Clement not taking his seat. “By electing me on 8 October, the voters honoured me. I would not betray the trust they have placed in me and I would act in their interests. What’s more, I don’t believe that in a professional relationship you have to be friends. I’d even go so far as to say that it’s not healthy and carries the risk of cronyism.”

“As far as I’m concerned, I’ll be staying with the Pirates, but not necessarily with Sven Clement,” Goergen told Paperjam. “For me, this party represents an ideal of transparency, participatory democracy and a commitment to digital and citizens’ rights. That said, as with any party, it is important to constantly evaluate our trajectory and remain critical of our actions and positions. As for the crisis that the Pirate party is going through because of Sven Clement, I think it’s possible to get out of it, but it will require some honest introspection. We have to admit that recent events have changed our perception of our past, but also our vision of the future. The party’s survival will depend on our ability to address these issues transparently, to strengthen our unity and to reaffirm our fundamental values.”

Now it’s time for the working groups. The current leadership comprises, in order of precedence, Marc Goergen (coordinator), (spokesperson), Starsky Flor (spokesperson), Gilles Mertz (treasurer), Sven Clement, Camille Liesch, Daniel Frères, Raymond Remakel, Mandy Arendt and Marie-Marthe Muller (deputy).

This article was originally published in .