http://www.libertas.eu/en/candidate
Now, when I first heard about a pro-EU party that was campaigning for reform in a uniquely pan-European way I have to say I was intrigued. But on trying to read more into the party all I got on their website was a couple of pages of hyperbole. It would seem that until May (just a few weeks before the European Elections) they don't have a manifesto or a plan of action as to what they'd do if they actually wielded any power.
The party was born out of the problems with the Lisbon Treaty, which was the precursor to a European Constitution. Up until they waded in it was a simple job being critical of anything in Europe – just simply throw the baby out with the bathwater; you choose the Conservative way (Euro-sceptic) or UKIP, who were plain Euro-phobic. But Declan Ganley showed that you can be a big fan of the great European project but still voice your concerns with the Lisbon Treaty. He wanted to lower bureaucracy and increase the democratic voice of Europeans. The Constitution in it's current form would do nothing to combat either and would in fact increase the potential for pitfalls in both areas.
It makes sense, what they're saying I fully agree with. Here's a couple of excerpts from their site,
Yet without any clear policies as to what they'd actually do how can I vote for them? As things stand all they are is a protest party. It's a great way of putting a point across but an absolute waste of a vote. Hopefully in a couple of months time I'll have some actual meat and potatoes to get stuck into and be able to assess as to whether it'd be a waste of my vote or not.“Libertas is offering a bold new future for Britain and Europe. We want a brand new kind of European Union, based on democracy, transparency and willing cooperation between sovereign nations. We want to return powers to Britain and take back control of our own destiny. We want to end the corruption and mismanagement of our tax money and ensure that we get value for money. We want to build a new European Union that our children can be proud to be a part of.”
“Whichever party you voted for last time made no difference; the EU is still pushing on relentlessly. British MEPs form less than 10% of the European Parliament, which means that they have very little influence. Libertas is the first pan-European party, standing in all 27 countries of the EU at the same time, with the same reform agenda.”
Hi Greg,
ReplyDeleteI am a Libertas volunteer, and appreciate your coverage, thank you. I completely understand your comments with regard to the policies, but these are in the pipeline and will be available before the election, obviously. The details, I think for the moment, simply aren't as important as sending a message to Brussels that things have to change.
As our website states, whichever party you voted for last time, whether it was Tory, Labour, Lib Dem or UKIP, we still have the same EU. It's still wasteful, it's still anti-democratic and it is still pushing the Lisbon Treaty. What's the point of voting for any of those domestic parties again? If you want to change the EU, you need to change your vote.
As far as we are concerned, voting for any of the domestic parties is a wasted vote - they have already demonstrated time and again that they can't and won't bring about change and supporting them is just supporting the status quo.
Libertas is a very serious and exciting new political force, the likes of which has never been seen before. A couple of days ago, it was announced that in Latvia a former Prime Minister will be one of our candidates. The Czech President has endorsed Libertas and we have not one but two former Presidential candidates standing for us in France. This is the first time that the people of Europe have ever had the chance to team up and say that they want a different kind of EU, based on democracy, transparency and openness. I really hope that the British can grab this opportunity and use it.
Since publishing this entry I came across Mark Mardell's recent blog entry,
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/2009/03/libertas.html
He seems to be asking similar questions to me but in a much better way (he is a very good communicator of hard to understand concepts afterall).
I'm excited to see what comes of this Libertas Insider and welcome your extra colour to my blog.