Ganley pays 3 of Libertas Netherlands 22 creditors.

Declan Ganley settled with 3 of the 22 creditors of Libertas Netherlands last week

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A//www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/4461502/__CHANTAGE_NA_BRUSSEL-FIASCO__.html%3Fp%3D4%2C1&hl=en&langpair=auto|en&tbb=1&ie=ISO-8859-15

Plus story states that Ganley pulled back with Libertas before election due to death threats. This sounds very fanciful.

Former Libertas executive director explains why he now supports Lisbon Treaty

Last year's No to Lisbon was right - until now by Naoise Nunn from Irish Times 23 July 2009

OPINION: I CAMPAIGNED for a No vote in the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in June last year because I believed a better deal was possible for Ireland and for the European Union generally, writes NAOISE NUNN

I now intend to vote Yes in October’s referendum, not only because I believe that we have secured a better deal through our No vote, but also because the national and international context has since been transformed beyond all recognition.

Economist John Maynard Keynes, in response to criticism that he had changed his position on monetary policy during the Great Depression, said: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

The Lisbon Treaty was to have reduced the number of members of the European Commission to two-thirds of the number of member states, leaving Ireland – and every other member state – without the opportunity to nominate a commissioner for five out of every 15 years. However, as a result of the Irish No vote, last month’s EU summit unanimously agreed that every member state will retain the right to nominate a commissioner.

While it is true that commissioners do not represent the member states which nominate them, this is an extremely significant breakthrough because it provides a powerful direct connection between the citizens of member states and the body which initiates all EU legislation. Indeed, it is a provision which many other member states argued strongly in favour of retaining, so it can be argued that the Irish people, by voting No, did them a favour too.

I am also persuaded that the guarantees secured from our European partners on the other issues of concern to Irish No voters will ensure that the Lisbon Treaty cannot be used by the EU in general – and the European Court of Justice in particular – as the thin end of a wedge to force Ireland into anything which is contrary to the will of its people.

Not alone is there is no precedent for this, but it would be completely against the individual and collective interests of the EU’s member states to force unwanted change on a fellow member state, since any one of them could be next in the firing line on a sensitive issue. The EU, or “Brussels”, is after all largely run on the principle of consensus agreement by member states on matters for which it benefits members to take collective rather than individual action.

Although I have difficulties with the democratic gaps in the functioning of the EU, there is no way the Lisbon Treaty can be described as undemocratic or even anti-democratic. The process through which the treaty evolved involved consultation with the democratically elected members of the parliaments of every EU member state, including opposition parties; the final, unanimous agreement of the democratically elected governments of every member state, and a massive majority in the directly elected European Parliament.

Of course it would have been preferable if all EU citizens had a direct say on the Lisbon Treaty, which would have lent it much greater popular acceptance, but that is simply not constitutionally possible in all member states and, for reasons that have little or nothing to do with the EU, it would not have been politically possible either.

We need better mechanisms to address the problems in how the EU is run and the increasing gap between the bureaucracy and the citizens it is supposed to serve, but this is not a good enough reason to reject the Lisbon Treaty.

Instead, we must demand that the Irish Government immediately implements measures to ensure much more effective and transparent scrutiny of EU legislation, and communicates this to the Irish people in a manner that gives us confidence that our interests are being protected and served in the implementation of European directives and regulations. The reinstatement of the Forum on Europe or a similar body would also serve a valuable role as a sounding board for the hopes and fears of Irish citizens, and provide a link between them and the EU institutions.

The media too can play a more proactive role in establishing the relevance of what happens in Brussels to people’s everyday lives on an ongoing basis, and in reporting on the more engaging human stories that take place within the commission, parliament and council.

Given the fundamental interconnectedness and interdependence of the modern world in everything from the internet and telecommunications to international trade and energy security, it is self-evident that in order to best pursue the interests of its members on the global stage, the EU needs to enhance its scope for collective decision-making and action, and to revise the current rules to take account of its present 27 members. To continue without the reforms of the Lisbon Treaty would be like trying to download a 2 gigabyte file by plugging one’s computer into a bakelite rotary telephone.

By voting Yes to Lisbon, Ireland has much to gain from facilitating the upgrading of the EU’s operating system. We will not solve any of the EU’s acknowledged shortcomings by rejecting the treaty, but rather damage our international reputation as a forward-looking modern nation and force the EU – including Ireland – to continue to struggle with an obsolete system.

We should vote Yes, not because of fear or because we are told to by an unpopular Government making unpopular decisions, but because we confidently accept for ourselves the fundamental common sense of helping to update the rules of a club that offers us shelter from the economic storm and amplifies our voice on the international stage.

In fact, we should vote Yes in order to capitalise on, rather than squander, the position we gained from the No vote last year.

Naoise Nunn is an independent political consultant and founder of the Leviathan political cabaret series. He was executive director of Libertas until his resignation in September 2008

Fiachra O Luain tells Libertas to stop calling

Posted By Fiachra O LuainOn politics.ie

I'm just stating here and now that I refuse to be played in any Libertas stratagem following contact from someone affiliated to them who asked me to cast doubt on the process before the Garda investigation is over.
They urged me to cause a ruckus without evidence and I get the distinct impression that that person feels they can manipulate me with promises of 'media attention' as if the only reason I'm suing RTE is because I want to get on the telly (My actual complaint is that the extent of Ganley's airtime was unjustifiable considering that we were both first time candidates).
All I am saying is that the only votes that were misplaced were three one-thousand piles into Ganley's bundles, that doesn't need a vast conspiracy it just requires one over-zealous sympathiser in the right place who realised that I had nobody tallying for me. Of course I hope that there was nothing untoward about how that happened and I'm sure that the Garda investigation will find out what happened.

Regarding Free To Bluster's playground remarks; take her handy kid. My name actually means Hunter of the Hound, and yes I do think my name does suit me. Marian Harkin was always civil to me as were most candidates (Though Declan did shout at me like a child once in Ocean FM so that makes me less likely to be his chum), Harkin and I disagree on Lisbon, I think it is shameful that she and other MEPs haven't said a thing about what is really happening at Rossport, etc. etc. however she was a pleasant adversary and I will always shake hands with any rival. I wasn't a sweeper for anyone, I was a candidate in my own right, as was McNamara. The idea that we were photographed together 'so often' is just paranoid fantasy. Oh yes, there were events to which only the independent candidates showed up to, one in Ennis and then the Irish Senior Citizen's Parliament too. The only reason we may have been photographed together is because the FF, FG, Labour and Libertas candidates didn't see fit to show up.
My reasons for being against Lisbon were always different from Libertas'. I think the likes of Barroso and Blair need to be tried for their roles in the Iraq invasion, not groomed to stay in the top jobs. I also wanted to enunciate the fact most of us who voted NO to Lisbon are not defined by either Sinn Fein or Libertas. We are also traditional FF, FG, Labour and Green voters too, we feel that Lisbon is a bad idea, that's all. I never hid the fact that I felt Declan Ganley was not fit to be an MEP for Ireland North West.
@ Cookie Monster - Thanks, respectful debate is what we must always aspire to. One thing I've learned growing up on the border during the Peace Process is that it is okay to disagree with someone, and indeed when we find that we do disagree with someone we must make sure not to insult them. I suppose Free to Prosper doesn't realise the value of this. If indeed you are a friend of Declan Ganley please ask him not to have anyone contact me from his camp again, I don't like getting political texts on a Friday night. I'm just not interested, however I do wish him the best of luck as he returns to the business life to which his personality is best suited.

Libertas react swiftly and remove David Cochrane's address from website after posting here

Libertas acted swiftly today to remove David Cochranes's home address form their site.
Cochrane who says he has absolutely nothing to do with Libertas was informed by this blog that his home address was on their site. His address has been replaced by Declan Ganley's. No sweat Dave you owe me one.
http://libertaseu.spreadshirt.net/en/GB/Shop/Impressum/index

Legal Information

The accountability for this online shop in terms of copyright law is:
Declan Ganley


Moyne Park, Tuam
CT Galway

wasearlier
Legal Information

The accountability for this online shop in terms of copyright law is:
David Cochrane

xxxxx xxxx Park
LN Kildare

E-Mail: david.cochrane at libertas.eu

E-Mail: info at libertas.eu

This is particularly true for all desig

Politics.ie starts banning posters in Ganley warm up?

There has been lots of activity on the boards recently with Libertas hack Cookiemonster licking off his wounds and starting to post again. He is again posting nasty attacks on poster whom he labels "the scum of the earth" without being censured by site owner and Libertas stalking horse David Cochrane.

Cochrane has also been banning anti Libertas posters (Again). The latest causality of the board wars is mccafferty's cat who was banned allegedly for publishing David Cochrane's home address. Of course Cochrane already has his address online and this should not be an issue.

The home address of Cochrane is listed on Libertas's own website See Update on this Cochrane's address removed since this posting

Legal Information

The accountability for this online shop in terms of copyright law is:
David Cochrane

xxxxx xxxx Park
LN Kildare

E-Mail: david.cochrane at libertas.eu

This is particularly true for all designs found in the shop, as well as all elements used in designing the shop.

Ah David perhaps you should not place that address online in one place if you are going to use it as an excuse to ban people on your other site Politics.ie.


Over on Machinenation Toxic Avenger and a new poster , and obvious sock puppet called Teach have formed a tag team.

Further evidence that Libertas hacks are gearing up for a web war over Lisbon is noted . Just today the disgraced and discredited Libertas PR man who called one of their Irish candidates a psychotic bitch on his facebook as Libertas melted down after the EU elections in June, joined NoToLibertas on Twitter. This is the twitter portal of this blog.

There are still out there and they are regrouping.


However this blog has been informed that David Cochrane has nothing to do with Libertas "at all" anymore.
Onwards and upwards David.

Fiachra O Luain states Libertas are trying to encouage him to sue returning officer

Fiachra O Luain the candidate who had 3000 votes incorrectly awarded to Declan Ganley in the recent election has stated that he is being text messaged by senior Libertas members to encourage him to sue the returning officers for the North West. See his reaction below.

I wonder if this has anything to do with recent text messages from a certain member of Ganley's crew urging me to sue the Returning Officer? As far as I'm concerned if anyone was trying to throw the election it was someone who was in favour of Libertas and they got what they deserved. They shouldn't worry the Gardai are onto it, then maybe I'll sue the wrongdoer who tried to put Ganley ahead at my expense.
Ganley is gone and he will stay gone.
Maybe without Declan 'Red Herring' Ganley we can actually have a real debate on the issues. I bet FF, FG and the rest are just terrified that we may just say NO again without the Bogey Man to blame.
Most people who voted no are neither Sinn Fein or Libertas, that's a fact.
How about this for a reason to vote No?
Barroso and Blair need to be put on criminal trial for their role in the Iraq invasion instead of being groomed for the tops positions in the EU. If they are found guilty of facilitating the illegal invasion they need to go to jail. Simple.
How about another reason?
Since reunification the German courts and government have failed to replace the Grundgesetz with a constitution for Germany as they are obliged to do by law.
'Agenda 2010' is what the Lisbon Treaty is named in Germany and it is the endgame of the Cold War. It's the eradication of the social capitalism that has defined Germany's recovery to civility, replacing it with blatant Thatcherism. The Cold War mindset still governs those in charge of the EU and they are a sad anachronism in this current world.
No to Libertas. No to Lisbon. http://www.politics.ie/current-affairs/85616-bring-back-ganley-petition-11.html#post1884966

But this evening it was announced Mr Ganley's first preference vote dropped by 3,000 to 67,638 after the recheck.

The 3,000 votes belong to the Independent candidate Fiachra O'Luain, who now has 6,510 votes, but has still been eliminated.

It is also clear that the nasty Libertas member who posts as Cookiemonster is known to Mr O Luain.
Fiachra any help in that regard please email peoplekorps@gmail.com. This blogger would love to know his identity.

Ganley being pursued by Libertas underlings for cash

Today's Irish Independent reports that Libertas European satellites are still demanding to be paid and that their creditors have given up hope of receiving their money. The paper has also picked up on Ganley's return to Twitter which was reported first on this blog on July 4.

Libertas boss under fire over €350,000 unpaid bill

By AINE KERR

Monday July 13 2009

LIBERTAS leader Declan Ganley is under renewed pressure to write a cheque for €350,000 to cover unpaid election bills which creditors in the Netherlands claim he is responsible for.

Eline van den Broek, leader of Libertas in the Netherlands, said some 15 creditors are now "irritated" and "annoyed". One is preparing to start legal proceedings and others may follow, she said.

Of the €350,000 she claims is owed from distributing one million leaflets and running television advertisements, upwards of €20,000 is due to Ms van den Broek herself.

In recent weeks, all creditors were instructed to contact the Libertas office in Ireland and submit their bills with detailed explanations.

"They were all individually accepted -- both by the accountant and Declan. Then they told all the creditors the money would be paid for by the end of June," she said.

But, a spokesman for Libertas last night insisted the "vast majority" of campaign bills had been settled.

"Libertas has being dealing with its very few remaining European campaign related payables in accordance with normal business practice.

Queries

"In some cases, routine queries have been made which had required clarification prior to being brought to closure. We will be making no further comment on this matter," he said.

However, Ms van den Broek said that despite receiving several email assurances the bills would be paid, no money has been forthcoming.

"The creditors have lost faith because they have been in direct contact with Ireland and with Declan Ganley's people who said the bills had been approved and would be paid for," she said.

"I know of at least one who will probably start legal proceedings and more may follow."

But despite her frustration at the failure of the Libertas leader to pay the outstanding bills, Ms van den Broek said she was open to working with him again in the future.

Libertas is said to have spent upwards of €40m on its failed European campaign.

In Ireland alone, the party spent between €600,000 and €700,000 during the 30-day campaign, sources within Libertas have claimed.

Meanwhile, Mr Ganley has prompted speculation he may return to the political stage after re-starting his Libertas twitter.

Sources also confirm the Libertas founder has not ruled out a role in the second Lisbon Treaty referendum campaign.

- AINE KERR

Declan Ganley and Liam Lawlor and Frank Dunlop transparency and democracy at work?

In case you have never seen this I am posting a link to the transcript of Declan Ganley's appearance before the Mahon/Flood tribunal in which he admits to hiring Liam Lawlor to aid him in his Albanian endeavours.
It is worth starting at page 71 of the document as Frank Dunlop gives some very interesting evidence re Mr Ganley. Dunlop is currently serving a sentence in an Irish prison for corruption.

Ganley later appears and offers his version of events. Sadly his Liam Lawlor had been killed in a mysterious road accident in Moscow and the varience between his evidence and Mr. Ganley's could not be tested further. Ganley's evidence begins at page 91
See the PDF http://www.flood-tribunal.ie/images/SITECONTENT_744.pdf

He admits to employing Lawlor and paying him 25,000 Euro to lobby in Albania at the time Ganley was involved in the bizarre and still questioned Anglo Adriatic Investment Fund.

It is interesting to note that the complaintant to the BCC in Ireland over RTE Primetime show was an Alan Kennedy who has featured in this blog for his employment by Libertas nad his activities on thier behalf. : http://www.bcc.ie/decisions_details/Feb%202009/484%2008%20akennedy%20prime%20time%20rte%20feb09.doc and

Alan Kennedy of Libertas fails to declare his interests while lobbying for Libertas

Alan Kennedy

It is very interesting to revist the information that previously came to light but that you may not have fully absorbed especially in light of the potential return to politics by Ganley and his gang.

More proof that Ganley is returning to politics. From the mouth of Bruce Arnold.

Ganley's hired hand and "journalistic" mouthpiece the ageing British journalist, formerly thought to be a British intelligence service asset based in Ireland, Bruce Arnold, called last week for Ganely to return to the "battle".
This is no doubt a statement made with the approval of his pay master and is part of the softening up of public opinion and designed to give Ganley a chance to claim he has been asked to return in the public interest.
Arnold's complete lack of credibility as an independent journalist was proven with his nasty defence of his master during the run up to the European election and his ridiculous article in The Village magazine that purported to be an interview with Ganley but was in fact an attack on writer Kevin Barrington and the Irish government.


Now Arnold is part of Ganley's advance publicity. He has also "written" Ganley's self published book which as Ganley tweeted last week is available free to download.


Arnold, you are in the sights of Irish people who love their freedom once again. Your sick promotion of the far right adds further cracks to your flawed pedigree. You can email him at barnold@independent.ie. Coming the day after Ganley re-entered the Lisbon debate on Twitter this further example of Bruce Arnold's journalistic fellatio is from Irish Independent 3 July
see below
We are no longer crucial. We are marginal again -- unless we say 'No' to the Lisbon Treaty


By Bruce Arnold

Saturday July 04 2009

Cowen and Martin espouse a wishful idea of Ireland at the centre of Europe. This will never be

The implications of this week's judgment on the Lisbon Treaty by the German Constitutional Court are profound for the whole of Europe and raise many questions, both for Germany and for all member states, whether or not they have it ratified. In light of the many sober messages given 'in the name of the German people' by the seven judges, it is difficult to see how the largest state in the European Union can rush headlong into the political processes that the court requires of the state, though this seems to be the intention and may well be the outcome. After all, Germany is at the heart of the European Union and the Lisbon Treaty undoubtedly strengthens its power -- at the expense of Ireland, it has to be said -- making even more impressive the safeguards the judgment imposes on Germany's politicians.

Moreover, the country, more than any other European power, was itself the overwhelming reason, following the Second World War, that inspired those who fashioned the European Economic Community, as a way out of the successive conflicts that had torn the continent in pieces. Why would they not now consider carefully and comprehensively the future of Europe from their point of view?

What the judgment does for the rest of Europe, in terms of 'sober messages', has implications for all countries, none more so than Ireland.

It is difficult to imagine a more humiliating or embarrassing contrast between the two countries. While Germany has considered, in the Karlsruhe Judgment, its relationships with the EU and with the treaty, our leaders, Brian Cowen and Micheal Martin, have acted like corner boys and rabble-rousers, rushing to Europe for a quick fix designed to get a 'Yes' vote. There was no serious thought or dignity at all.

It would lessen the damage of their deception and slyness if one could point to the main opposition parties and show they had handled things better. No such claim is possible. Lemming-like, they have followed those in power, offering their own dishonest description of 'Yes' vote benefits and raising dishonest prescriptions about a 'No' vote outcome.

They espouse a wishful idea of Ireland at the centre of Europe. This will never be. Ireland is small and peripheral. It has slavishly attended EU meetings looking for a cheap set of answers for a rerun of a totally unchanged Lisbon Treaty.

Compare this with the sobriety and intelligence of the German Republic's response to challenges to its Basic Law, or constitution, and you have a picture of representation running out of control.

It was a grave surprise and disappointment that Declan Ganley withdrew from this increasingly unequal debate after his defeat in the West. He should not have done it. He needs to return to the battle, one that has been fundamentally, even irretrievably, changed by the German judgment.

This all raises questions about the judgments made by Cowen and Martin. These two men are not in the same class of constitutional thought about the nature of sovereignty as the Germans, where a powerful lead, given by the Constitutional Court, is taken with serious thought and debate by the German people.

Our ministers do not consider -- as the Germans clearly do -- the need for the drawing of a line across the path of Europe's onward march towards anti-democratic centralisation and bureaucratic consensus. Yet it was the vital element in the referendum's defeat and will become central again.

Our interests and Germany's are quite clearly opposed. Germany will be strengthened by what is now happening, Ireland will be weakened. Their voting strength is enhanced, ours is lessened. They want to be at the heart of Europe, and can be. They are already dominant there. We want to be at the heart of Europe without knowing what it means, still less knowing how we achieve it.

On one thing both countries are together, Germany through considered purpose, ourselves because of our 1973 constitutional commitment on signing ourselves into the EEC: this is the desire for involvement in a trade and market union that gave us advantages without undermining sovereignty.

That debate has been overtaken by events and is fundamentally changed by Germany taking a lead in redefining itself and Europe. However, though Germany's Constitutional Court delivered a strong message, the message was finite. On the issue of whether the EU is becoming a federal state and whether a new EU citizenship is being created, it is no more a matter for the German Constitutional Court to decide than it is for a group of diners at a private dinner party. The decision becomes one for that biased institution, the European Court of Justice. They will take a view totally different from the German judgment. And that should frighten all of us.

What is likely to happen now is the following: the German judgment will go to the Bundestag. There, the drafting of the legislation demanded by the Constitutional Court will be challenged again, taking us into the early part of next year.

Behind this there looms a fresh Czech constitutional challenge and a situation where Kaczynski in Poland is unlikely to ratify before the German process is completed, which will almost certainly not be in September. It is unlikely that the process, in real terms, will be completed before next year when the logic and fairness of considering the post-election circumstances in the UK will arise, President Klaus will ensure this. This will demand an open and fair approach and not the pre-empting of the situation. Thus, a UK referendum is increasingly likely.

Ireland's debate, between now and October, has changed. We are no longer crucial. We are marginal again -- unless we say 'No' and start to map a properly reformed Europe.

barnold@independent.ie

- Bruce Arnold

Ganley returns to Twitter

I notice that Declan Ganley has started to use his Twitter account again.On July 2 he posted the below. For a man retired from politics he is maintaining a healthy interest.

Hmm, German Lisbon ruling bigger than being said. Watch 4 new case, & No Czh or Polish approve prior 2 UK GE. Bet Brit referdm on.6:37 PM Jul 2nd from web

He is also offering his book for download

Bruce Arnold's book 'The Fight for Democracy'. We're out of copies so now available 4 free download at www.libertas.eu & www.brucearnold.ie4:58 PM Jul 1st from web

This follows his message to supporters from June 24 in which he says he is thinking about his options and still collecting money.

A message for all Libertas supporters http://libertas.eu/ireland/11:59 PM Jun 24th from web

Most disturbing is the letter to supporters which states he is thinking about what to do and looking forwarding to working with his supporters again.

It is also notable that the July 2 posting is on the Lisbon Treaty something he said he would not campaign on.

Be careful out there.

Where Libertas failed others attempt Nazi-lite

Ukip, Lega Nord form hard-right bloc in EU Parliament

LEIGH PHILLIPS

30.06.2009 @ 17:37 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A mosaic of right-wing eurosceptics and hard-right anti-immigrant parties have cobbled together enough MEPs to form a new political group out of the ashes of the Independence-Democracy group in the European Parliament.

With the centre-left oriented eurosceptics from Denmark and Sweden within the Ind/Dem group soundly defeated in the June European elections, its right wing - already home to the Popular Orthodox Rally, or LAOS - the Greek nationalist outfit - was free to seek out allies amongst other parties well to the right of the conservative mainstream.

Ukip is getting into bed with anti-immigrant populists (Photo: Florie Bassingbourn)

The new group, which is set to be launched on Wednesday (1 July) has yet to firm up its name, but is likely to be either A Europe of Free Peoples or A Europe of Peoples for Liberty, although the word 'Independence' may yet be retained somewhere in the title.

Whatever its final formation, the name reflects the Ukip-Lega-Nord axis that represents the core leadership of the new group. Italy's Lega-Nord or Northern League, in government domestically, is to join with the British eurosceptics from their now defunct grouping in the parliament, the conservative Union for a Europe of the Nations (UEN).

Ukip, with its 13 deputies, is pushing to hold on to the word that makes up part of its own party name, while for the nine MEPs of the Northern League - which holds to the concept of Il Popolo Padano, the inhabitants of the northern regions of Italy, which they refer to as Padania - the inclusion of the word "people" in its volkisch sense is "fundamental," according to a Northern League source.

The new "Liberty" grouping combines the two parties together with the two deputies of LAOS and an MEP the Political Reformed Party (Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, SGP), a party from the Dutch Protestant right emphasising moral issues - both of which were within the old Ind/Dem grouping in the last parliament - as well as two from the Danish People's Party, and one each from the True Finns and Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionists.

Libertas France, the successor to the sovereignist Movement Pour La France of Philippe de Villiers, which was in the Ind/Dem group as well, will keep its two MEPs in the new formation.

In total, the group will have at launch around 30 deputies from seven countries, meeting the European Parliament's new tighter threshold of 25 MEPs from seven member states in order to access public funds for staff, research and campaigns.

Sources close to the discussions reckon there will likely be additional deputies "from a couple of other member states" either at the launch or subsequently, but who have not made any firm commitments.

As the balance between left and right euroscepticism no longer needs to be managed, a joint presidency is also expected to be junked.

It is thought that talks have not extended to the Austrian Freedom Party or its namesake in the Netherlands led by Geert Wilders, and bringing on board the Flemish hard-right separatists of the Vlaams Belang has been ruled out as well. The Northern League would in any case make an unlikely ally for the Austrians, who have never stopped seething about the loss of the South Tyrol after the First World War.

Anti-immigrant, Islamophobic, gay-baiting

While Ukip is both conservative and eurosceptic and has worked with other hard-right parties before, now a majority of the parties in the new formation come from the 'softer' side of Europe's extreme right, banging the anti-immigrant and Islamophobic drum while distancing themselves from outright fascists.

The True Finns, in the process of overtaking the local Green League as fourth biggest party domestically, have introduced immigrant-baiting rhetoric to Finland, which until recently had seen very little far-right activity compared to other European countries.

Late last year, party member Jussi Halla-aho described in a blog foreigners as criminals and called asylum seekers "African gang rapists" and "parasites." Mr Halla-aho has since been charged with hate crimes faces up to two years in jail if convicted.

Meanwhile Søren Krarup of the Danish People's Party, has said "Islam has for 1,400 years attempted to conquer and repress European Christianity." In 2007, he described the religion as "a totalitarian regime that has thousands of human lives on its conscience."

"The headscarf is a symbol of this regime and the Qur'an may very well be compared with Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'," he said at the time.

Party leader Pia Kjærsgaard for her part has accused Muslim organisations of being a "fifth column" in Danish society and in 2006, a newspaper revealed that undercover journalists posing as members of the neo-Nazi Dansk Front had been given the okay to join the party so long as they kept their far-right views private by half of a party district committee.

The request for membership was turned down and nine party members were expelled, but the incident nevertheless embarrassed the party, which is trying to distance itself from groups that are explicitly fascist.

Ukip however feels itself to be insulated from accusations of cosying up to unsavoury elements as its key partner, the Northern League, is part of Italy's governing coalition. Nevertheless, the party's leader, Umberto Bossi, in 2003 called migrants from Africa "bingo-bongos" and said boats of irregular migrants attempting to disembark in Italy should be fired upon.

Giancarlo Gentilini, deputy mayor of Treviso and member of the party, in 2007 called for the "ethnic cleansing" of homosexuals.

"I will immediately give orders to my forces so that they can carry out an ethnic cleansing of faggots," he told a local television station.

"The faggots must go to other [cities] where they are welcome. Here in Treviso there is no chance for faggots or the like."

In Venice in 2007, he taunted Pecoraro Scanio, then minister of the environment under Romano Prodi and the first Italian minister to come out as bisexual, by saying: "In Gorgo, a woman was raped with a chisel in the back and in the front. I say to Pecoraro Scanio that I want the same thing happens to his mother and his sister." Mr Scanio is a popular target for Northern League insults, with a banner at a festival organised by the League in 2005 reading: "Rape Pecoraro."

He has also said of immigrants: "We should dress them up as rabbits and go bang, bang, bang with a rifle."

In 2006, the Northern League was expelled from the Ind/Dem group after MEP Roberto Calderoli wore a T-shirt depicting one of the notorious Danish cartoons that depicted the Prophet Muhammad.

Far-right ‘lite'

Graeme Atkinson, the European editor of Searchlight, the respected UK journal that reports on the activities of the far right told EUobserver: "This basically is the far-right 'lite' forming a group, a community of interest, with Ukip's help - right-wingers more of a populist than fascist character."

"While not welcome, this is probably partly deliberate, in order to keep the like of the genuinely fascist far-right from forming an officially recognised group," he added.

Libertas: Political pyramid scheme collapses in chaos costing 40 mil

It appears that Libertas have taken to the hills. The only MEP elected, France's far right aristocrat, Viscount Phillipe de Villiers, has repudiated his membership of Libertas. His party had three MEPs before getting into bed with the Libertas bandwagon. de Villiers ran a far right xenophobic campaign under the Libertas. fr banner.

Phones are ringing out across Europe as no one is home in Libertas offices. Fundraising efforts will continue amongst the diminished ranks of the far right, ultra conservative party.

Ganley has gone to ground and Libertas staffers are coming out with statements in support of the Lisbon treaty. David Cochrane tweeted Monday morning that he was officially "unemployed".
What a debacle. However it was correct to devote energy to defeat this potential threat to our Liberty. Libertas needed to be defeated.
Victory is ours but remain watchful.

Libertas on brink of extinction after poll disaster costs €40m

Tuesday June 30 2009

LIBERTAS has sunk into oblivion after forking out up to €40m on its disastrous European campaign, an Irish Independent investigation has found.

In Ireland alone, the party spent between €600,000 and €700,000 during the 30-day campaign. That figure is much higher when the major billboard campaign -- run at an estimated cost of €200,000 before election spending limits came into effect -- is factored in.

Libertas claims all these bills are accounted for from donations and fundraising, with the exception of between €20,000 and €30,000 which will be paid off through "dinners and golf tournaments", one source said.

But after running 532 candidates across Europe, just three countries are considering continuing with the Libertas banner -- Britain, Estonia and Slovakia.

The only candidate out of 532 candidates who won election for Libertas, French MEP Philippe de Villiers, confirmed he was no longer a member of the organisation.

The party's offices in Dublin, Brussels and London were all closed when the Irish Independent attempted to contact them this week.

Remaining Libertas members in Ireland are expected to meet in the coming weeks to decide if the party should be wound up, whether a new leader should be elected or if it should return to the status of a "think tank".

A list of queries emailed to the Libertas European press office bounced back with a message that the office had closed.

On contacting the Libertas office in Britain, an operator said the party had moved out of the offices in the election aftermath.

Across Europe, many candidates have quickly disappeared out of the spotlight.

"It's safe to say the party is dead, or maybe just on life-support, with people standing around wondering whether to pull the plug or not," one source said. Press officers and advisers have been let go, contact email addresses are bouncing back and contact numbers continually ring out unanswered.

Hypocritical

"Our point always was that we were criticising the unelected and it would be hypocritical of us to then carry on with what we were doing when the electorate didn't vote us in," another source said.

Sources insist bills were being paid across Europe. In some cases, such as Britain, a "start-up fund" of around €200,000 had been provided and this was not exceeded.

In the Netherlands, where chief candidate Eline van den Broek claimed she was owed €350,000 by Libertas leader Declan Ganley, both parties are said to be "in communication" and attempting to sort out the bills. Sources also attempted to play down any reported financial difficulties in Spain and Poland.

Chloe Woodhead, who ran as a Libertas candidate in the South East constituency in Britain, admitted candidates never had a "breath of a chance" of getting elected. Aside from having only a few months to mount a campaign, they did not have a "fighting chest" and funds were very limited.

Dublin candidate Caroline Simons declined to be interviewed about her election experience; while attempts to contact Mr Ganley were unsuccessful.

- ine Kerr Political Correspondent