Ganley rejoins Lisbon "no" campaign

Declan Ganley has decided to rejoin the campaign against the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland.

Despite Ganley being a eurofederalist (he mistakenly thinks it can be reformed like the Tories) and a bit of a prima donna, this is good news. I have expressed concerns recently that the Irish might see UKIP's involvement in the Irish referendum as undue interference from imperialists and that has, indeed, been one of the arguments used by the "yes" camp. It also means that the "no" campaign isn't being spearheaded by a party that is fully anti-EU, thus depriving the "yes" campaign of the argument that UKIP is only involved to try and break up the EU (another one they've tried).

Let's hope that Ganley hasn't left it too late to start campaigning for a "no" vote.

An inauspicious start ?

Declan Ganley is a man used to ruffling feathers. He is also used to success and therefore will not be pleased to learn that his proposed pan-European political party, Libertas, may have fallen foul of European bureaucracy at its inception!

Ganley has become a big name in politics after successfully leading the Irish 'No' campaign against the Lisbon Treaty. He has since made it clear that his ambitions do not end there. Ganley announced that he intended that Libertas would contest the European elections in a large number of EU Member States on an anti-Lisbon Treaty platform.

However it now appears that the funding Libertas were hoping to access through registering themselves as a pan-European party could be in jeopardy. On Thursday 5th February it was announced that two of the signatories, a Bulgarian MP and an Estonia MP, have denied signing up for that purpose. As a result the European Parliament’s administration has been requested to look into the issued by contacting all the European, national and regional law-makers whose signatures were submitted by Libertas to verify whether they signed with the understood purpose of forming a pan-European political party.

Until confirmation of Libertas’ status is acquired all funding available to them as a pan-European party will be suspended. With less than four months until the European Elections this hick-up could not have come at a worse time for Libertas. If it is not resolved rapidly (has anything ever been resolved quickly once ensnared by EU red-tape) it could seriously damage Libertas’ ambitions. Only time will tell as to the impact this incident will have; however, without doubt it is an inauspicious start!

UKIP statement on Libertas Launch

Nigel Farage made it clear yesterday that there is absolutely no common ground on Europe between Declan Ganley's new party, Libertas, and UKIP.

Mr. Farage said that "Libertas has nailed its colours firmly to the David Cameron mast of wishing to stay within the European Union and try to reform from inside. Declan got one thing right, they didn't listen to the Dutch, they didn't listen to the French and they're not listening to the Irish over reform. So why do he and Cameron think they'll listen to them?"

"I think it will come as a surprise to many to learn just how pro EU Mr. Ganley is. When he says that Europe is too important to fail and that it is important to all our futures then you begin to see the true picture.

"UKIP remains the only party committed, absolutely clearly, to Britain leaving this political union and becoming a free and sovereign state once again. One where our laws are made by us for ourselves, rather than the vast majority being made in Brussels.

"Surprisingly Mr. Ganley is now claiming that when the Irish voted no in their referendum it was not a vote against the EU. I'm sure this will come as a surprise to many of those who did vote no. It will be interesting to see how Mr. Cameron and the europhile wing of his party deal with the possibility of their vote being taken by Libertas.

"What Mr. Ganley has done today is show that there is absolutely no common ground between our positions. He thinks that, along with the Tories, reform from within is possible. We know, as the Dutch, French and Irish situations have shown us, that this is not possible. Only by leaving can anything be made to change."

There is still only one party committed to an independent Britain and thats UKIP so on the 4th of June vote UKIP.

Our Country is being lost piece by piece we must act now to stop this duplicitous, undemocratic betrayal. Please join US, the only party that will put an end to this betrayal.