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About LinkBacksNow that Libertas are standing for elections, I think it is worth asking what they stand for. Can any of their supporters here let us know about Libertas policy, aside from opposing the Lisbon Treaty?
Now that Libertas are standing for elections, I think it is worth asking what they stand for. Can any of their supporters here let us know about Libertas policy, aside from opposing the Lisbon Treaty?
Apparently they have circulated a 5 page policy manifesto at their recent launches across Europe. This doesn't seem to be available on their website.
Mark Mardell of the BBC quizzed Robin Matthews (Libertas leader in UK) on the details of their policies last week, to which Mr. Matthews replied:
In other words: "Vote for us first, and we'll tell you our policies later.""What ever you do with elected commissioners or an elected commission, they must be accountable to the people. Libertas is seeking such a mandate at the ballot box and that is our first task before we look at exactly ways to reform the commission, president or what ever"
They are European Federalists. They want a directly elected EU president - a policy which is federalist by definition.
"Who will bailout the IMF after FF is finished with them?"
Thanks Seabhcan that is one policy. Ganley hinted at opposition to tax increases and to opposition for further regulation at his campaign launch at the weekend. Does anyone know any more?Originally Posted by seabhcan
Do Libertas oppose CAP in the way he once did? I seemed to remember a suggestion that he referred to CAP as a weapon of mass destruction. Has he rowed back on this?
And what is Libertas' position on the EDA and the military status of the EU?
Well this is no secret. Ganley has proclaimed himself loudly as a supporter of a Federal Europe. Quite how he intends to do this by reducing the size of the EU bureaucracy is an utter mystery.
It's like proposing (to give a very loose example) that the powers of County Councils should be reduced, and given to the Oireachtas, while simultaneously proposing that the powers of the Oireachtas be curbed and its budgets cut.
Incongrous, hypocritical madness.
Mr. Ganley also proposed once (think it was in that famous speech to the "Heritage" group) that the uncertainty in the middle east and the threat of Islamo-fascism could only be solved by a series of wars against Arab states, backed by the US and a united Europe in a Churchill-style war-effort which would see military conscription and a massive industrial leap to fuel the war machine.
Can anyone from Libertas clarify whether this policy stands?
Standing in the NorthWest region? Are you mad? Of course he wont oppose CAP during the campaign. And why should he? None of the other parties are going to major on any unpalatable but necessary reforms they would argue for once elected. Well, John McCain might but John McCain isnt running and he didnt need to win Iowa to win his nomination. The Libertas manifesto is clearly an anti-politics one - try to summarise the frustrations people have with politics right now and say that you are against it. It may even work. What is unlikely to work is trying to pin Libertas down to specific, unpopular positions, they will surely be ready for that.
If you can find a copy of this policy manifesto in Polish I can have it translated and post it here.
The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.
From Ganley's press conference at the weekend:
Promising to work ‘‘on the side of the people, not the establishment in Dublin’’,
Libertas will also run solicitor Caroline Simmons in Dublin and former Irish Farmers Association executive member Raymond O’Malley in Leinster.
Declaring he was ‘‘a businessman, not a politician’’, Ganley said that he knew ‘‘what it will take to dig Europe out of the mess that our politicians have created’’.
He criticised the main political parties for wanting to raise taxes, and said the Libertas approach was to ‘‘keep money in your pocket, not lift it out.”
He also criticised over-regulation, excessive government spending and the power of lobbyists. He also took aim at ‘‘unelected officials’’ in Brussels as ‘‘arrogant, out-of-touch and dangerous’’.
Ganley reiterated traditional Eurosceptic themes, saying the EU ‘‘governs how far you can travel, how long you can work, what you can eat, what you can watch, what your children are taught, and how you are treated by our courts’’.
He raised the issues of immigration and labour regulation, asking: ‘‘If you are a worker, what hope have you when Brussels allows employers to bring people into your country and pay them less than you can legally earn?”
.. so he's a neo-liberal protectionist.. I'm confused!
do these last two points not completely contradict each other? he doesn't want Europe to regulate where you work but he doesn't want Brussels to allow employers to bring in workers from other European countries
surely from a trans-European point of view the movement of labour cuts both ways. is he telling the Polish people that he doesn't think Brussells should regulate and restrict where in Europe they should work? and then is he telling French and Irish people that he doesn't want Brussells to allow employers to bring in cheap workers from Eastern Europe?
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