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Open source for Europe

Bring Brief-nach-Berlin to your country

Brief nach Berlin is an open approach for helping people write civic letters to the right political office. If you have contacts, data sources, or local knowledge from Austria, Portugal, the Netherlands, or another European country, get in touch. I am looking for people who want to adapt the idea properly.

Handwritten letters fly across Europe, passing cities, rivers, railway lines, and mountains.

How can I bring Brief nach Berlin to another country?

Start with 3 things: reliable data about political responsibility, someone who understands the local democratic system, and a small group of testers. The code is open. What each country needs is a translation into its own institutions, language, and civic habits.

Why this page exists

Brief nach Berlin started as a German tool: enter a postal code, describe an issue, find the right member of parliament, and draft a letter. The underlying idea is larger. Democracy becomes easier to use when people know whom to contact and when the first step is not blocked by forms, uncertainty, or institutional complexity.

Europe is not an abstract project to me. It is the experience that neighboring countries can learn from each other without becoming the same. A tool built for Germany should not be copied into Austria, Portugal, or the Netherlands. It should be translated.

What is open source about it?

The Brief nach Berlin code is public on GitHub. You can inspect how postal codes, responsibility checks, letter drafting, privacy, and AI transparency work together. The point is not to control one central platform for Europe. The point is to let local teams reuse the pattern and adapt it better than I could from Germany.

If you want to build a version for your country, you do not need permission. A message still helps, because I can share lessons, tradeoffs, and technical decisions.

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EU countries could use their own local versions once data, language, and institutions are checked on the ground.

European Union, locally adapted

What does a country need?

First, it needs a reliable data source: constituencies, mandates, office addresses, forms of address, and responsibilities. Then it needs writing that fits the local culture. An Austrian letter to the National Council sounds different from a German letter to the Bundestag. A Dutch version has to explain different institutions than a Portuguese one.

Privacy matters too. Brief nach Berlin does not store user accounts and deliberately avoids building a political profile database. Any adaptation should keep that line: as little data as possible, as much transparency as possible.

Which countries are being discussed?

Austria is being discussed. Portugal, the Netherlands, and other countries are examples where the approach could be useful. I am open to contacts, data pointers, translation help, local judgement, and developers who want to build their own version.

Possible next countries

Austria

Being discussed

National Council, Federal Council, states, and municipalities each have their own paths. That is why local review has to come before a public tool.

Portugal

Example

Useful for contacts, data sources, and people who understand how citizens can reach political offices there.

The Netherlands

Example

A strong candidate for testing how parliamentary responsibility, direct contact, and plain language fit together.

Do you have contacts or want to build?

Write to me if you know data sources, understand a local political system, want to translate, or want to use the code for your own version. A short email is enough.

Write an emailView the code on GitHub

More context

Frequently asked questions

Can I adapt Brief nach Berlin for my country?

Yes. The code is open. The important part is to independently check your country's data, responsibilities, forms of address, and privacy questions instead of copying the German logic.

What kind of help is most useful right now?

The most useful help is contact with people who know local institutions, plus pointers to reliable data sources for mandates, constituencies, office addresses, and responsibilities.

Is Austria already planned?

Austria is being discussed, but it is not live yet. If you have contacts, data sources, or experience with the National Council, states, or municipalities, that is especially useful.

Why not build one central European version?

Political systems differ too much. One central version would become inaccurate quickly. Local versions are better: they can use the open approach and translate it carefully for their institutions.

Does a new version have to use the name Brief nach Berlin?

No. The name fits Germany. Another country may need its own name, as long as the principle remains: help people write concrete democratic letters to the right office.