An inauspicious start ?

Declan Ganley is a man used to ruffling feathers. He is also used to success and therefore will not be pleased to learn that his proposed pan-European political party, Libertas, may have fallen foul of European bureaucracy at its inception!

Ganley has become a big name in politics after successfully leading the Irish 'No' campaign against the Lisbon Treaty. He has since made it clear that his ambitions do not end there. Ganley announced that he intended that Libertas would contest the European elections in a large number of EU Member States on an anti-Lisbon Treaty platform.

However it now appears that the funding Libertas were hoping to access through registering themselves as a pan-European party could be in jeopardy. On Thursday 5th February it was announced that two of the signatories, a Bulgarian MP and an Estonia MP, have denied signing up for that purpose. As a result the European Parliament’s administration has been requested to look into the issued by contacting all the European, national and regional law-makers whose signatures were submitted by Libertas to verify whether they signed with the understood purpose of forming a pan-European political party.

Until confirmation of Libertas’ status is acquired all funding available to them as a pan-European party will be suspended. With less than four months until the European Elections this hick-up could not have come at a worse time for Libertas. If it is not resolved rapidly (has anything ever been resolved quickly once ensnared by EU red-tape) it could seriously damage Libertas’ ambitions. Only time will tell as to the impact this incident will have; however, without doubt it is an inauspicious start!