In the first of an occasional series looking at the up-and-coming European parliamentary elections this June, we talk to Declan Ganley (left of photo) from Libertas, the UK/Ireland based party putting forward candidates in Poland this summer.
“Pro Europeans who want real change from Brussels,” is how Declan Ganley describes the mission of Libertas, the political party formed during the “No” campaign in the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland last year.
“Brussels is led by a tyranny of mediocrity,” Ganley told a press conference in Warsaw recently. “There is a distancing by the political elites in Europe from the people they represent. So here is Poland we want to spread our message in a variety of ways.”
All political parties in Poland will be putting up representatives to contest for seats in the European parliament in June. But what makes these elections different from national elections is that voters from any of the 27 nations within the EU can take part in the ballot wherever they live, and not just in their own countries. Pan-EU political groupings will be taking part as well - and Libertas, though having roots in Ireland and the UK will be putting up candidates in many of the nations that belong to the European Union.
In Poland, Libertas are currently launching their campaign and are in the process of drawing up a list of Polish candidates, to be unveiled in March.
Thenews.pl caught up with Declan Ganley on his latest visit to Warsaw.
Thenews.pl: You are known for your campaigning against the Lisbon Treaty, which Poland’s president, Lech Kaczynski has yet to ratify since the Irish voted against it. So how can you claim to be a pro-EU party?
Declan Ganley: We must be inside the European Union. The EU must succeed. If you look back at the inspiration of the European project, from Athenian democracy, the Roman Republic, Constantine establishing Christianity…and you look how far we have come since 1945 and look at the reasons for peace in Europe, then the European Union has been, arguably, the most successful peace process in the history of the world.
So it is a shame to see a Brussels that does not want to listen to the democratic voice of Europe’s people. Because when it does that it feeds euro-scepticism. It strengthens critics of the whole European project.
What, then, is Libertas saying that other, pro-EU parties are not?
What Libertas is saying is: Hey, people, wake up!
First of all, let’s look at what we have today. And let’s look at what we would get if the Lisbon Treaty was ratified tomorrow in every member state.
More than 80 percent of our laws now come from Brussels. We are not against that. However, to initiate a law in Brussels you have to be unelected. That is a huge step backwards for democracy. And it‘s a huge step backwards for the progress we have made since WW II.
I don’t think there is anything radical or euro-sceptic about that view, I think it is very reasonable.
How do you assess the scope of support for Libertas in Poland?
I think that if the word gets out - and this is the same all over the EU - the elites in Brussels are terrified of this message because it exposes them. Clearly it is a moderate, sensible message. I have travelled to every country within the EU and many cities and towns within those countries, and the Libertas message is the one that chimes with the majority of ordinary people throughout Europe.
So, if the message gets out and is understood before June, then this might be the last chance people get to exercise a vote that will force Brussels to be accountable to them democratically. Not in a euro-sceptic way, in a very pro-European way.
How do you see the development of the Polish branch of Libertas and what is its prospects? There has been much speculation in the media that you will attract some extremist politicians to your campaign. So who will represent you here?
There has been a lot of interest shown. But those people in the political wilderness, or euro-sceptics or nationalists, will not have a home in Libertas. They will not feel comfortable with us.
What type of people are you looking to attract?
I think what we are going to need in Poland is a mixture of those with some political gravitas, with experience; and newer, fresher blood, new faces. Youth is going to be very important. We need the vision and intelligence of young people, plus some grey hairs - or in my case, no hairs - with experience of business, politics, the law and other walks of life.
On March 25, we will be holding our first party congress in Rome, on the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome. There we will unveil our first Polish candidates. And we hope to field a significant number of candidates in Poland to give the people a real choice to put MEPs in parliament as part of the Libertas party, who will be part of the strongest and most united voice in the European Union, calling for a strong, creative Europe that is accountable to its people. ”
The head of Libertas was talking to Michal Kubicki.
Declon Ganley (40) is a multimillionaire businessman who, though born in London, grew up in Galway, Ireland. From an early age he showed considerable business acumen, buying his first shares on the stock market when he was just 14 years old.
A few years later he moved to eastern Europe where he got rich by shipping Soviet aluminium to Rotterdam via Latvia.
Later he was appointed economic advisor to the newly independent Latvian government, went into forestry, and started up a European wide telecommunications company. He also set up a firm in the US making emergency military response systems in the wake of 9/11.
His political career, however, has been a short one - emerging, suddenly, in the campaign against the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland, which he subsequently was on the winning side of in the referendum of 2008. (pg)