Comments on: Ganley and Libertas – serious money, but not yet serious

By: marmurr1916

marmurr1916 — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:22:45 +0000

Libertas aren’t the first pan-European political party by any means. The Newropeans (newropeans.eu) have been going since 2000.
@Jack Thurston: latests opinion polls show Libertas at less than 2% in Ireland’s North West constituency, where Declan Ganley is the candidate.
@DamienRM: there not going to be winning any seats in Germany, since they didn’t manage to get the 4,000 verified signatures needed to register a list of candidates at federal level; they haven’t registered any candidates at state level either.

For all they hype, Libertas look like being a damp squib.

By: Ralf Grahn

Ralf Grahn — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:13:54 +0000

In my humble view, any party launching a campaign for the European elections should have (at least the elements of) a credible programme for five years of legislative work in place plus a blueprint for the future of the European Union.

Until now Declan Ganley has produced little more than indignation and flummery.

By: Eurocentric

Eurocentric — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:35:04 +0000

Perhaps we should all club together then and form our own pan-European party?!

With Libertas, well, I was against them at the start because of some of their outlandish claims on Lisbon, then my interest was grabbed by some of the rhetoric on increasing democracy and Ganley’s earlier writings, and then I was repelled again by the right-wing rhetoric, the extreme members and the constant conspiracy claims.

Keith’s assessment of the Irish constituencies sounds right.

By: Anthony Zacharzewski

Anthony Zacharzewski — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:22:28 +0000

I’ve been expecting something to start rumbling about a pro-EU or at least progressive alternative pan-European movement, but so far (the whiskery European Movement aside) nothing much seems to be happening.

By: Keith

Keith — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:21:30 +0000

>though they may win on home turf in Ireland I suppose

I can report from Ireland that Libertas currently have only one candidate (Ganley himself) in the four Republic of Ireland constituencies, and that he has about a 50% chance of taking the last seat (of three) in that constituency (Ireland West) – depending on how much he spends, and how well his new right-wing Catholic posture goes down with the voters there (the candidate with simiilar views last time out – “Dana” Rosemary Scallon – got about 15%, and she was an outgoing MEP).
They have neither candidates declared nor a chance in any of the other three Southern Ireland constituencies, nor the Northern Ireland constituency.

By: Jack Thurston

Jack Thurston — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:01:28 +0000

I think the most interesting thing about this is that Libertas will be the first party fielding candidates in all member states. I think that is a real breakthrough in the formation of a genuine European polity. It’s ironic that it should come from a party that presents itself as ‘anti’. I will be very interested to see how they get on. Setting up an election winning party from a standing start in 27 countries is incredibly ambitious, it must be said.

I don’t rate their chances of winning a single seat in the UK, though they may win on home turf in Ireland I suppose. DamienRM: interesting perspectives on France, Germany and the Netherlands. What about the other member states?

Other readers of this blog, how do you rate Libertas’s chances in *your* country?

By: Nosemonkey

Nosemonkey — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:15:37 +0000

I’d be all up for it if you could vote for individual candidates in the EU elections in the UK (hell – an MEP’s salary would be most welcome in the current economic climate, and I do like Brussels…). But I very much doubt I’d land anywhere near the top of the London party list, even for Libertas. And judging by the people the party’s putting up in other countries, my campaigning would mostly revolve around slagging off the other Libertas candidates as being unreconstructed reactionaries. Not to mention slagging off Ganley as a populist with decidedly unclear motivations and objectives…

In any case, he hasn’t got back to me yet…

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:11:28 +0000

Fair points… I tried to give the UK take on it as that’s what’s currently being debated in the UK blogosphere. I think the same sort of messages could work in Germany or elsewhere too.