Libertas implode in Poland

Following this weeks split between the League of Polish families, Libertas have been abandoned by another Polish Polish League of families MEP Sylwester Chruszcz. This is a serious blow to ganley as only a few weeks back they boosted high polls in Poland. All that lies in the ashes now. Chruszcz formally annnouced leaving Libertas on his web page Friady 20 March.

this just published by Dominika Pszczółkowska
Brussels correspondent of Gazeta Wyborcza, the largest Polish quality daily.

piątek, 20 marca 2009

Libertas off to a sorry start in Poland

The anti-Lisbon Treaty group Libertas seems to be falling apart in Poland before it even really began.

Not only did it choose some sorry people for its allies. Now one of them, the Polish member of the European Parliament Sylwester Chruszcz has announced he is quitting.

Libertas, ran by the Irish businessman Declan Ganley ran an extremely effective campaign in Ireland before the June 2008 referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and largely contributed to the Irish ”no”. Now Mr. Ganley wants to field candidates for the June 4-7 European Parliament elections in all EU countries.

At first glance, Poland might have seemed to him like a good hunting ground. But Mr. Ganley has chosen some strange bedfellows. They are politicians who originated from the now largely defunct League of Polish Families. I don't know if Mr. Ganley noticed, but their views are quite distant from his. They are not only against the Lisbon Treaty, but against the EU in general. The League was the only party clearly against Poland's entry into the EU. It seems history has proved them wrong and in the polls they are now within the margin of error of non-existance. They had a charismatic leader, Mr. Roman Giertych, but he has since left politics. I will not go on about the extreme right wing views of some of them on religion, abortion, Jews, immigrants etc.

Anyway Mr. Ganley has been coming to Poland (at least 3 trips, but I might have missed some) to consult with these characters. Recently he registered the Polish Libertas.

Now one of the people he has been talking to, the MEP Sylwester Chruszcz, published a statement on his web page saying he is resigning from Libertas. Why? ”The decision I have made is linked to the lack of a clear political vision of Libertas, as well as divergencies concerning its program”.

Until last year Mr. Chruszcz was the head of the League, but then went on to form another party.

Mr. Chruszcz has a point. One of the weakest sides of Libertas is that it is in fact a single issue group. It has views about what the structures of the EU should look like (or rather, shouldn't look like), but apart from that has no political program. And I am afraid the voters would like to know if the person they are choosing is left or right, green or red, or whatever, and so how they are likely to vote on real issues, as opposed to institutional issues, which have only a very indirect effect on our lives.

I read in the ”Irish Times” that Mr. Ganley is also now trying to distance himself from his unsavoury Polish allies. I'm afraid it's too late, because nobody serious will want to be seen as taking their place now.

The trouble all over Europe is that Mr. Ganley is not succeeding in finding people like himself: anti-Lisbon, but proeuropean, pro-business and with moderate views (or no views) on sticky subjects like abortion, the place of religion etc. Poland seems to be lost to his cause.

See also
http://chruszcz.pl/?sr=!czytaj&id=2272&dz=fakty&x=0&pocz=0