Libertas leader rejoins battle against EU treaty - Montesquieu Institute

Bron: euobserver.com

Irish millionaire and anti-Lisbon Treaty campaigner Declan Ganley has made a late and unexpected return to battle in the country's second referendum on the EU pact.

Mr Ganley, the founder of Libertas - a eurosceptic political party which was hammered in the June EU elections - at a press conference in Dublin on Sunday (13 September) announced the revival of his anti-treaty operation, but this time on a much smaller scale.

Describing the new EU guarantees obtained by the irish government on Ireland's full sovereignty over moral issues, taxation and military neutrality, the businessman said the Yes forces have "resorted to lying in their desperation."

"[The Yes side has] utter contempt for the democratic decision of the Irish people, the Dutch people, the French people and indeed, all of the citizens of Europe," he said, referring to earlier Irish, Dutch and French No results on EU treaty referendums.

He added that "we will not be running a campaign like the last Lisbon campaign," however. "The resources that we have are minuscule in comparison to the Yes side."

The new Ganley campaign, for which he hopes to fundraise between €50,000 and €200,000, will involve a series of billboards, posters and advertisements in newspapers. Mr Ganley also said he would not be campaigning full-time.

Despite its more modest scale, the move represents a u-turn for Mr Ganley.

Earlier this year Mr Ganley said that he would not campaign in the second Lisbon referendum, after just one Libertas candidate - Philippe de Villiers of the hard-right Mouvement pour la France managed to win a seat in the European Parliament.

"I can take No for an answer," he told the Irish Times in June.

On Friday, ahead of his official Dublin press conference, Mr Ganley gave an extended interview to the Wall Street Journal, arguing that the very decision of European leaders to force a second referendum is reason enough to vote No again.

"Why, when the French voted No, the Dutch voted no and the Irish voted no, are we still being force-fed the same formula?" he said.

He also complained about Article 48 in the Lisbon Treaty, which according to Mr Ganley, allows EU leaders in future "with just intergovernmental agreement, with no need of going back to the citizens anywhere, [to] make any change to this constitutional document, adding any new powers, without having to revisit an electorate anywhere."

He also is opposed to the treaty's creation of the positions of President of the European Council and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

"Presumably they're going to be speaking for me, right, because I'm a citizen," he said. "But I don't get to vote for or against these people. So, who mandates them, if not me, as a citizen, or you? Oh, so somebody who is how many places removed from me selects from within one of their own. They never have to debate with a competitor. I'm never given a choice of, do you want Tom, Joe or Anne. I'm presented with my president. Do I walk backward out of the room now?" he told the US newspaper.

In the latest update on public opinion in Ireland three weeks ahead of the Irish vote, a survey by Red C for Ireland's Sunday Business Post on 13 September suggested that the Yes side is solidifying its support.

The poll reported that 52 percent intended to vote Yes in the referendum, against 25 percent who will vote No, with 23 percent undecided.

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