Libertas.eu
Encyclopedia
Libertas is a political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 founded by Declan Ganley
Declan Ganley
Declan James Ganley is a British-born Irish citizen, entrepreneur, businessman and political activist. He is founder and chairman of a political party, Libertas with pan-European ambitions...

 that took part in the European Parliament election, 2009
European Parliament election, 2009
Elections to the European Parliament were held in the 27 member states of the European Union between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history...

 in several member states of the European Union.

Preamble

In 2008, the Libertas Institute Limited
Libertas Institute Limited
The Libertas Institute is a lobby group that along with others successfully campaigned for a "no" vote in the 2008 referendum in Ireland on the Treaty of Lisbon.-Mission statement:...

, a lobby group founded by Declan Ganley and others, advocated a "no" vote in Lisbon I, the 2008 referendum in Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 on the Treaty of Lisbon
Treaty of Lisbon
The Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty between Portugal and Spain, concluded at Lisbon on 13 February 1668, through the mediation of England, in which Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza....

. Lisbon I failed. The referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...

 was held on 12 June 2008
and defeated by 53.4% to 46.6%, with a turnout of 53.1%.

Creation

Libertas held a post-referendum celebration in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin on the night of Friday, 13 June 2008. Attending that celebration was Danish Eurosceptic and former President of the EUDemocrats
EUDemocrats
The EUDemocrats – Alliance for a Europe of Democracies – is a eurorealist alliance of parties and movements from 15 European countries. It operates as a transnational party at a European level , according to Regulation No 2004/2003...

 and recently retired MEP Jens-Peter Bonde
Jens-Peter Bonde
Jens-Peter Rossen Bonde is a former Member of the European Parliament with the June Movement. He resigned as an MEP in May 2008. Bonde was elected to the European Parliament in the first election in 1979 with the People's Movement against the EU. He has been re-elected 6 times consecutively...

, who had been a "no" campaigner during the referendum. Bonde was later cited as one of the main architects of the upgrading of Libertas to a political party at European level.

On 15 July 2008, RTÉ News on Two covered Ganley's comments at The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...

 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, where he stated that Libertas intended running as a political party at European level. The next day Ganley confirmed that Libertas was fundraising in order to run candidates throughout Europe in the 2009 European Parliament elections.

On 20 September 2008, the Irish Times reported that Bonde and Czech president Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus is the second President of the Czech Republic and a former Prime Minister .An economist, he is co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party. Klaus is a eurosceptic, but he reluctantly endorsed the Lisbon treaty as president of...

 pledged to help Ganley to launch Libertas. The two were later amongst the guests at a dinner hosted by Ganley at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin on 11 November 2008.

On 30 October 2008, Ganley registered a company based in Moyne Park, Tuam
Tuam
Tuam is a town in County Galway, Ireland. The name is pronounced choo-um . It is situated west of the midlands of Ireland, and north of Galway city.-History:...

, County Galway called the Libertas Party Limited. The Irish Times reported that the new party was intended to "carry on the business of a European political party". The party was publicly announced in December 2008 with ambitions to field up to 400 Pavel Chernev's Freedom Party that had announced to join the list was repudiated by Libertas.
However, the submitted list was later rejected by the Bulgarian electoral commission. An appeal filed by Nikolay Bliznakov
Nikolay Bliznakov
Nikolay Bliznakov is a Bulgarian journalist, publicist and politician. Mostly under the pseudonym Kris Nichols, he has been the author of several Science Fiction books which were translated into Russian, Polish and German.-References:...

 was turned down by Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court
Supreme Administrative Court of Bulgaria
The Supreme Administrative Court of Bulgaria was first established on 25 November 1878 as one of the three divisions of the then-single Supreme Court...

 on the grounds that the list had not proven the required deposit had not given the names of its constituent parties.
In the meantime, Bulgarian businessman Hristo Atanassov
Hristo Atanassov
Hristo Ivanov Atanassov is Bulgarian politician Chairman of the National Council of the political party Libertas Bulgaria .Hristo Atanasov is a Member of the Parliament in 36th National Assembly of Republic of Bulgaria.- Biography :...

 founded a party under the name Libertas Bulgaria which has no connection to the pan-European Libertas network.

Czech Republic

Right after the preliminary rejection of the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, Declan Ganley
Declan Ganley
Declan James Ganley is a British-born Irish citizen, entrepreneur, businessman and political activist. He is founder and chairman of a political party, Libertas with pan-European ambitions...

, founder of the European Libertas.eu, was guest of Czech President Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus is the second President of the Czech Republic and a former Prime Minister .An economist, he is co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party. Klaus is a eurosceptic, but he reluctantly endorsed the Lisbon treaty as president of...

 The Czech eStat.cz civic group had ambitions to replicate Libertas's success and awarded the Irish electorate the Michal Tošovský Prize, picked up by Ganley in Prague on November 5, 2008. During his stay in Ireland after a state visit, Klaus visited Ganley in a private capacity and later attended the Shelbourne Hotel dinner given by Ganley for leading Eurosceptics.

However, Ganley's Libertas was later rejected by the new Czech Eurosceptic party, Petr Mach
Petr Mach
Petr Mach is Czech economist and politician.Mach was chairman of the Young Conservatives, the Civic Democratic Party's youth wing, in 1997...

's Party of Free Citizens
Party of Free Citizens
The Party of Free Citizens or is a eurosceptical political party in the Czech Republic founded in 2009 by Petr Mach, an external economic advisor of Czech president Václav Klaus....

, which was endorsed by Klaus. Additionally, the Ganley-disavowed new Czech Eurosceptic party by Vladimír Železný
Vladimír Železný
Vladimír Železný is a media businessman, politician and convicted criminal in the Czech Republic. He was the first CEO of TV NOVA, a popular Czech television station and was a member of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2009...

 usurped the Libertas brand by registering itself as Libertas.cz. Ganley's Libertas later claimed Železný's Libertas as an affiliate.

Greece

After Manolis Kalligiannis , President of the Greek Liberal Party
Liberal Party (Greece)
The Liberal Party was one of the major Greek political parties of the early 20th century.- History :Founded as the Xipoliton party in Crete , its early leaders were Kostis Mitsotakis and Eleftherios Venizelos...

 had attended Libertas.eu's Rome convention on 1 May 2009. Manolis Kalligiannis (Μανώλης Καλλιγιάννης, sometimes rendered in English as Emmanuel Kalligiannis), Liberal Party run for the 2009 European parliament election
European Parliament election, 2009 (Greece)
The European Parliament election of 2009 in Greece for the election of the delegation from Greece to the European Parliament in 2009 took place on June 7, 2009. The election system used in Greece is party-list proportional representation with a 3% threshold for any party...

 under a Libertas-affiliated list with the name “Κόμμα Φιλελευθέρων – Libertas.eu”.

Hungary

In Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, Libertas.eu searched for candidates in an Internet ad and Károly Lóránt was appointed the Hungarian representative. However, as Hungarian concerns that a disorganized EU would only serve Russian strategic interests could not be dissipated, no list was fielded on behalf of Libertas.

Italy

Libertas.eu announced talks with the Pole of Autonomy
Pole of Autonomy
The Pole of Autonomy is an heterogeneous electoral coalition of political parties in Italy, formed in the run-up to the 2009 European Parliament election in order to overcome the 4% threshold introduced in the electoral law in February 2009...

 coalition on April 30, 2009, the day before its Rome convention, which were confirmed the next day by Teodoro Buontempo, the president of The Right
The Right
The Right is a national-conservative political party in Italy.-Foundation:On 3 July 2007 Storace announced his resignation from National Alliance in a letter posted on his website, claiming that it had become too centrist and moderate and in protest against the lack of internal democracy in the...

. However, in the final candidate lists submitted in May, no candidates were fielded by Libertas.eu, neither did the Pole of Autonomy list refer to Libertas.

Lithuania

Ganley arrived in Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

 on Tuesday March 3, 2009 to discuss terms with prospective candidates, and explore whether to establish a new Libertas party in Lithuania or change the name of an existing Lithuanian party. He did so again on Monday 24 March 2009 at a lecture at Vilnius University
Vilnius University
Vilnius University is the oldest university in the Baltic states and one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. It is also the largest university in Lithuania....

's Institute of International Relations and Political Science (IIRPS, or VU Tarptautinių Santykių ir Politikos Mokslų Institutas, VU TSPMI).

On 31 March 2008, Libertas Lithuania gave a press conference. Attendees at the press conference were Ganley, lawyer Eugenija Sutkiene
Eugenija Sutkienė
Eugenija Sutkienė, a Lithuanian lawyer, currently heads the list of Lithuanian candidates for the Libertas Party in the June 2009 European Parliament elections.Ms Sutkiene is a co-founder and managing partner of the law firm Sutkiene, Pilkauskas & Partners...

, political analyst and Lithuanian presidential advisor Lauras Bielinis, and Tautos Prisikėlimo Partija
National Resurrection Party
National Resurrection Party was a centre-right political party in Lithuania. Founded in 2008, the party merged into the Liberal and Centre Union in 2011...

 representative Saulius Stoma.

In that press conference it was announced that the Libertas Lithuanian list would be headed by Sutkiene and would include Bielinis, and that candidates from the Tautos Prisikėlimo Partija
National Resurrection Party
National Resurrection Party was a centre-right political party in Lithuania. Founded in 2008, the party merged into the Liberal and Centre Union in 2011...

 would stand with them under a common list, although Ganley and Stoma disagreed whether other parties would join them under that list. When asked if he had read the Lisbon Treaty, Bielinis demurred. When asked about Libertas Lithuania's funding, Ganley demurred.

Bielinis planned to remain in his presidential advisory post until 7 May 2009 and take unpaid leave thereafter. Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus
Valdas Adamkus
Valdas Adamkus was President of Lithuania from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2004 to 2009.In Lithuania, the President's tenure lasts for five years; Adamkus' first term in office began on February 26, 1998 and ended on February 28, 2003, following his defeat by Rolandas Paksas in the next...

 disagreed and announced Bielinis' resignation the next day, 1 April 2009.

When the lists were published, neither Bielinis nor Sutkiene were on Tautos Prisikėlimo Partija
National Resurrection Party
National Resurrection Party was a centre-right political party in Lithuania. Founded in 2008, the party merged into the Liberal and Centre Union in 2011...

's list. When Libertas named their finalised candidates in May 2009, they did not include any candidates in Lithuania, and the Tautos Prisikėlimo Partija
National Resurrection Party
National Resurrection Party was a centre-right political party in Lithuania. Founded in 2008, the party merged into the Liberal and Centre Union in 2011...

 website contained no pledge of allegiance to Libertas.

Portugal

In April 2009, the Portuguese ecologist
Green politics
Green politics is a political ideology that aims for the creation of an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, social liberalism, and grassroots democracy...

 Earth Party
Earth Party
The Earth Party , previously called The Earth Party Movement, , or MPT The Earth Party , previously called The Earth Party Movement, , or MPT The Earth Party , previously called The Earth Party Movement, , or MPT (hence called MPT - Partido da Terra, is a Portuguese green party, founded on 12...

 (MPT) announced in a joint press conference with Ganley that it would run for the 2009 European Parliament election
European Parliament election, 2009 (Portugal)
The European Parliament election of 2009 in Portugal was the election of the delegation from Portugal to the European Parliament in 2009.The lists are headed by*Socialist Party : Vital Moreira...

 with an open electoral list under the banner of Libertas.eu.

Slovakia

While the vice-president of the EUDemocrats
EUDemocrats
The EUDemocrats – Alliance for a Europe of Democracies – is a eurorealist alliance of parties and movements from 15 European countries. It operates as a transnational party at a European level , according to Regulation No 2004/2003...

, Peter Kopecký
Peter Kopecký
Peter Kopecký is a Slovak romanist and politician.Previously the Slovakian Ambassador to Romania and Moldova and Rector of Comenius University in Bratislava, he is now Assistant Director of the Institute of European Studies and International Relations at Comenius.He is also leader of the Slovak...

 had already announced the foundation of a Libertas Slovensko branch, he changed his mind in late February and decided to head the list of the small, but already established Agrarian and Countryside Party
Agrarian and Countryside Party
Agrarian and Countryside Party, or ASV is a political party in Slovakia.In 2009, the party ran for the 2009 European Parliament elections with an electoral list headed by Peter Kopecký., March 20, 2009, Kopecký, vice president of the EUDemocrats had previously unsuccessfully tried to found his...

.
So Ganley had to look out to other options and met in Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...

 with leaders of the conservative parties KDS
Conservative Democrats of Slovakia
The Conservative Democrats of Slovakia , abbreviated to KDS, is a Slovakian political party established by four MPs who belonged to the Christian Democratic Movement, but left it on 21 February 2008 over disagreements with the party leader...

 and OKS
Civic Conservative Party
The Civic Conservative Party , abbreviated to OKS, is a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Slovakia. It has four seats in the National Council, which it won in an electoral alliance with Most–Híd at the 2010 election, and the party's four MPs sit in the Most–Híd parliamentary...

, and with Richard Sulík
Richard Sulík
Richard Sulík is a Slovak economist, businessman and politician. He is the leader of the political party Freedom and Solidarity.- Life :...

, the founder of the new (Sloboda a Solidarita
Freedom and Solidarity
Freedom and Solidarity , abbreviated to SaS, is a centre-right classical liberal political party in Slovakia. The party was established in 2009 and is led by its founder, the economist Richard Sulík, who designed Slovakia's flat tax system...

).
While Sulík, whom Ganley had already contacted before, still didn't show much interest, Vladimír Palko
Vladimír Palko
Vladimír Palko is a Slovak politician. He is a member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic and former Interior Minister of Slovakia...

 (KDS) agreed to bring in their joint list with OKS into the European network.
However, as the two partys didn't want to give up their distinct identities, they used Libertas only as supplementary brand.

Endgame

Libertas fielded over 600 candidates (including substitutes), but only one was elected: Phillippe de Villiers. Although Ganley himself polled a respectable number of votes, it was not enough for him to take a seat in his constituency. Ganley requested a recount of his personal vote but still lost. Having made the promise to do so before the election, Ganley retired from politics following his defeat on 8 June 2009: the fate of the party he founded, chaired, owned and governed was left to others. However, the affiliated Libertas Institute did emerge again in the Republic of Ireland when the Irish government launched its re-run of the Lisbon Treaty, despite its defeat the previous year. The Libertas party, along with the other minority political groupings, such as the Socialist Party
Socialist Party (Ireland)
The Socialist Party is a socialist political party active in Ireland. It is a member of the Committee for a Workers' International .Formerly known as Militant Tendency, then Militant Labour, it adopted the name The Socialist Party in 1996. From their foundation in 1972 until the 1980s, members of...

 and Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

, which opposed the European Constitutional Amending Bill, were outspent and outperformed by the political proponents of the bill who won by a substantial majority. Declan Ganley went on to praise the Irish Prime Minister, or Taoiseach, on 'what was, politically, a masterful campaign…from a masterful politician who has made glove puppets out of the opposition' although Ganley also cited recent economic turmoil in the country as a major deciding factor in the vote.

Staff

For the local Libertas staff in each member state, see the articles below this section.

Name Position Notes
Declan Ganley
Declan Ganley
Declan James Ganley is a British-born Irish citizen, entrepreneur, businessman and political activist. He is founder and chairman of a political party, Libertas with pan-European ambitions...

Chairman Unelected
Jens-Peter Bonde
Jens-Peter Bonde
Jens-Peter Rossen Bonde is a former Member of the European Parliament with the June Movement. He resigned as an MEP in May 2008. Bonde was elected to the European Parliament in the first election in 1979 with the People's Movement against the EU. He has been re-elected 6 times consecutively...

Brussels Office Manager
Joe Trippi
Joe Trippi
Joe Trippi is a long-time American Democratic campaign worker and consultant. A mainstay in presidential politics, Trippi has worked on the presidential campaigns of Edward Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, Dick Gephardt, Jerry Brown and most recently John Edwards...

Electoral consultant American Democratic campaign consultant.
Worked on the presidential campaigns of Edward Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, Dick Gephardt, and John Edwards.
Lynton Crosby
Lynton Crosby
Lynton Crosby AO is an Australian political strategist.Having masterminded four successive election victories for John Howard, he has been described as a "master of the dark political arts," "the Australian Karl Rove," and in 2002 The Age newspaper described Crosby as "one of the most powerful and...

Electoral consultant Australian campaign consultant.
Worked on the election campaigns of John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....

, Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...

, and Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...

.
Anita Kelly, Spokesperson
John McGuirk Spokesperson Was named as a Libertas spokesperson in Slovakia in February 2009.

Structure

Libertas's intended structure evolved with time. It was originally intended to be an alliance of national parties, but it was later envisaged as a single pan-European party with candidates running as individual members of Libertas. By the end of April 2009, Libertas's structure had settled into a loose association of national member parties (either new or pre-existing), with each member party adhering to a set of core principles (see below) but retaining its independence and adding on additional policies as it felt appropriate.

For the purposes of contending the 2009 European Parliament elections, Libertas candidates ran under lists (the lists of candidates presented to voters in a European election) branded with the Libertas identity, as exemplified by the French approach. Each list was made up of some combination of the following:
  • members of member parties
  • members of affiliate parties (parties that were not members of Libertas.eu but cooperated with it electorally)
  • individual members (people who chose to join Libertas.eu as individuals).


New national member parties established by Libertas had names in the "Libertas X" format, e.g. "Libertas Sweden
Libertas Sweden
Libertas Sweden is a political party in Sweden. It intended to contend the 2009 European Parliament elections under a common banner with Declan Ganley's Libertas.eu.-History:...

" (except in the UKThe UK could not adopt a "Libertas X" format name because that name had already been registered with the Electoral Commission. The Libertas.eu member parties in the UK are "Pro-Democracy: Libertas.eu" and "Libertas Northern Ireland"). Pre-existing national member parties were asked to change their names to include the word "Libertas" in the title. Members of member parties were members of Libertas automatically unless they chose otherwise.

Affiliate parties retained their original names. Members of affiliate parties were not members of Libertas unless they chose to join as individuals.

Position

Ganley stated that following a group conference in Rome in March 2009, (later postponed to 1 May 2009) Libertas would publish a policy document or party manifesto. covering areas such as democracy, the economy, small businesses, the recession, and EU institution accountability.

No formal manifesto was published at the convention
Political convention
In politics, a political convention is a meeting of a political party, typically to select party candidates.In the United States, a political convention usually refers to a presidential nominating convention, but it can also refer to state, county, or congressional district nominating conventions...

. Instead, Libertas's core principles were displayed on its website and reiterated at its convention, namely accountability, transparency, democracy and rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. Each member party and individual member was obliged to adhere to these core principles, although they could add additional policies as they felt appropriate. Affiliate parties were not obliged to so adhere.

The core principles were given concrete form when Libertas published the following policies on its website:
  • The powers of legislative initiative, inspection and decision should be reserved to elected officials.
  • Expenses of the European Parliament
    European Parliament
    The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

     and European Commission
    European Commission
    The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

     to be published.
  • European Commission to identify €10 billion in savings for financial year 2010/11.
  • Any given Constitution Treaty to be ratified by referendums in each member state.
  • Meetings in BrusselsWhether the term "Brussels" was used here to refer to the seat of the European Commission in Brussels
    Berlaymont building
    The Berlaymont is an office building in Brussels, Belgium that houses the headquarters of the European Commission, which is the executive of the European Union...

    , or to the seat of the European Parliament in Brussels
    Espace Léopold
    The Espace Léopold or is the complex of parliament buildings in Brussels housing the European Parliament, a legislative chamber of the European Union ....

    , or to the seat of the Council of the European Union in Brussels
    Justus Lipsius building
    The Justus Lipsius building is a building in Brussels that has been the headquarters of the Council of the European Union since 1995. Unlike the European Parliament, visiting is restricted...

    , or to all of these, was not specified.
    to be reduced by 50%.

Member parties

Member parties were members of Libertas.eu. Members of member parties were automatically members of Libertas.eu unless they chose otherwise.

  • Libertas Estonia
    Libertas Estonia
    Libertas Estonia was a political party in Estonia. It intended to contend the 2009 European Parliament elections under a common banner with Libertas.eu.-Estonian Blue Party :...



  • Libertas Germany
    Libertas Germany
    Libertas Germany is a eurosceptic German political party founded in 2009. It is a member of the pan-European movement Libertas.eu established to impede the Lisbon Treaty....



  • Libertas Ireland
    Libertas Ireland
    Libertas Ireland was a political party in Ireland. It contended the 2009 European Parliament elections in Ireland under a common banner with Declan Ganley's Libertas.eu...



  • Libertas Malta
    Libertas Malta
    Libertas Malta was a political party in Malta set up to contest the 2009 European Parliament elections under a common banner with Libertas.eu. Its only candidate Mary Gauci failed to be elected and the party has been inactive since.-History:...



  • Libertas Netherlands
    Libertas Netherlands
    Libertas Netherlands is a political party in the Netherlands. It contended the 2009 European Parliament elections under a common banner with Libertas Party Limited, the organization founded by Declan Ganley.-History:...



  • Libertas Poland
    Libertas Poland
    Libertas Poland is a political party in Poland. It contended the 2009 European Parliament elections under a common banner with Libertas Party Limited, the organization founded by Declan Ganley.-Pawlowiec's Lewica i Demokraci:...



  • Libertas Sweden
    Libertas Sweden
    Libertas Sweden is a political party in Sweden. It intended to contend the 2009 European Parliament elections under a common banner with Declan Ganley's Libertas.eu.-History:...



  • Libertas United Kingdom
    Libertas United Kingdom
    Libertas UK may refer to three political parties in the United Kingdom: one formed by an associate of the United Kingdom Independence Party and two affiliated to Declan Ganley's Libertas Party Limited...



  • Libertas Latvia
    Libertas Latvia
    Responsibility – Social Democratic Alliance of Political Parties is a political coalition in Latvia, until 2010 called Libertas.lv, which was the local branch of Declan Ganley's Libertas Party. Unlike Libertas in other countries, Libertas Latvia was not a political party in its own right...


Affiliate parties

Affiliate parties were not members of Libertas.eu but cooperated with it electorally under Libertas lists. Members of affiliate parties were not members of Libertas.eu unless they chose to join as individuals.

  • Libertas.cz
  • Independent Democrats
    Independent Democrats (Czech Republic)
    Independent Democrats is small populist political party in the Czech Republic. Its founder Vladimír Železný, MEP, was elected its chairman during the party's convention on 6-7 August 2005. It advocates strict immigration policies, the abolition of the Senate, and review of the country's...

     (Nezávislí demokraté, NEZDEM)


  • Movement for France
    Movement for France
    The Movement for France , abbreviated to MPF, is a French conservative and eurosceptic political party, founded on 20 November 1994, with a marked regional stronghold in the Vendée. It is led by Philippe de Villiers, once communications minister under Jacques Chirac.The party is considered...

     (Mouvement pour la France, MPF)
  • Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition (Chasse, Pêche, Nature, Traditions, CPNT)


  • Party of Work, Nature and Family - Christians for Germany (Partei für Arbeit, Umwelt und Familie – Christen für Deutschland, AUF)


  • Liberal Party
    Liberal Party (Greece, modern)
    The Liberal Party is a Greek liberal political party, founded in the 1980s, which claims to be the continuation of the historical Liberal Party, one of Greece's leading parties for most of the early 20th century...

     (Komma Fileleftheron, KF)


  • Forward Poland
    Forward Poland
    Polish Social Movement Forward, more usually rendered as Forward Poland is a National Conservative and Eurosceptic political party in Poland. It contended the 2009 European Parliament elections under a common banner with Polish People's Party "Piast"...

     (Naprzód Polsko, NP)
  • Polish People's Party "Piast" (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe "Piast", PSL Piast)
  • Party of Regions
    Party of Regions (Polish)
    The Party of Regions is a Polish non-parliamentary political party created in November 2007 . The Party of Regions was created by former members of Self-Defence after the parliamentary election in 2007, when Self-Defence support collapsed to far less than the 5% electoral threshold giving them no...

     (Partia Regionów, PR)
  • League of Polish Families
    League of Polish Families
    The League of Polish Families is a right-wing political party in Poland. It was represented in the Polish parliament, forming part of the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński, until the latter dissolved in September 2007....

     (Liga Polskich Rodzin, LPR)
  • Organization of the Polish Nation - League of Poland (Organizacja Narodu Polskiego - Liga Polska, ONP-LP)
  • Christian-National Union (Zjednoczenie Chrześcijańsko-Narodowe, ZChN)


  • Earth Party
    Earth Party
    The Earth Party , previously called The Earth Party Movement, , or MPT The Earth Party , previously called The Earth Party Movement, , or MPT The Earth Party , previously called The Earth Party Movement, , or MPT (hence called MPT - Partido da Terra, is a Portuguese green party, founded on 12...

     (Partido da Terra, PT), formerly the Movement the Earth Party (Movimento Partido da Terra, MPT)


  • KDS-OKS coalition
  • Civic Conservative Party
    Civic Conservative Party
    The Civic Conservative Party , abbreviated to OKS, is a centre-right liberal conservative political party in Slovakia. It has four seats in the National Council, which it won in an electoral alliance with Most–Híd at the 2010 election, and the party's four MPs sit in the Most–Híd parliamentary...

     (Občianska Konzervatívna Strana, OKS)
  • Conservative Democrats of Slovakia
    Conservative Democrats of Slovakia
    The Conservative Democrats of Slovakia , abbreviated to KDS, is a Slovakian political party established by four MPs who belonged to the Christian Democratic Movement, but left it on 21 February 2008 over disagreements with the party leader...

     (Konzervatívni Demokrati Slovenska, KDS)


  • Citizens – Party of the Citizenry
    Citizens – Party of the Citizenry
    The Citizens – Party of the Citizenry is a Spanish political party which describes itself as centre-left and non-nationalist...

     (Ciudadanos-Partido de la Ciudadanía, C)
  • Social Democratic Party
    Social Democratic Party (Spain)
    The Social democratic party was created following a split in the Social democratic union party on April 9, 2007 in Spain, in the Valencian Community, its ideology is social democratic....

     (Partido Social Demócrata, PSD)
  • People's Union of Salamanca (Unión del Pueblo Salmantino, UPSa)

Individual members

Individual members were people who chose to join Libertas.eu as individuals. People with no national party membership who were running under a Libertas list were automatically individual members.

2009 European Parliament elections

Libertas didn't manage to present electoral lists in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. In the other European countries, the candidates on Libertas.eus lists were either members of member parties, members of affiliate parties, or individual members.
Member state Libertas list Number of seats
contested
4–7 June 2009
Elected
candidates
8 June 2009
Libertas Czechia
Libertas Czechia
Libertas.cz is a eurosceptic party in the Czech Republic that was founded in 2009 by the former media entrepreneur and MEP Vladimír Železný. After some controversies it became an associate of Declan Ganley's pan-European alliance Libertas.eu.- History :...

29 0
Libertas Estonia
Libertas Estonia
Libertas Estonia was a political party in Estonia. It intended to contend the 2009 European Parliament elections under a common banner with Libertas.eu.-Estonian Blue Party :...

6 0
Libertas France
Libertas France
Libertas France is the name given to the activities of Declan Ganley's Libertas Party in France. Unlike Libertas in other countries, Libertas France was not a political party in its own right...

147 1
Libertas Germany
Libertas Germany
Libertas Germany is a eurosceptic German political party founded in 2009. It is a member of the pan-European movement Libertas.eu established to impede the Lisbon Treaty....

11Libertas's website gives a total of 22 people, made up of 11 actual candidates (bewerber) and their 11 substitute candidates (ersatzbewerber). Substitute candidates, (a.k.a. "alternates" or "replacements") were those people who replace the elected candidate if s/he dies or is otherwise disqualified from sitting in the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

0
Libertas Greece 22 0
Libertas Ireland
Libertas Ireland
Libertas Ireland was a political party in Ireland. It contended the 2009 European Parliament elections in Ireland under a common banner with Declan Ganley's Libertas.eu...

3 0
Libertas Latvia
Libertas Latvia
Responsibility – Social Democratic Alliance of Political Parties is a political coalition in Latvia, until 2010 called Libertas.lv, which was the local branch of Declan Ganley's Libertas Party. Unlike Libertas in other countries, Libertas Latvia was not a political party in its own right...

8 0
Libertas Malta
Libertas Malta
Libertas Malta was a political party in Malta set up to contest the 2009 European Parliament elections under a common banner with Libertas.eu. Its only candidate Mary Gauci failed to be elected and the party has been inactive since.-History:...

1 0
Libertas Netherlands
Libertas Netherlands
Libertas Netherlands is a political party in the Netherlands. It contended the 2009 European Parliament elections under a common banner with Libertas Party Limited, the organization founded by Declan Ganley.-History:...

24 0
Libertas Poland
Libertas Poland
Libertas Poland is a political party in Poland. It contended the 2009 European Parliament elections under a common banner with Libertas Party Limited, the organization founded by Declan Ganley.-Pawlowiec's Lewica i Demokraci:...

128Kazimierz Wilk and Barbara Czyż resigned from Libertas, reducing the originally-reported total of 130 by two 0
Libertas Portugal 22 0
Libertas Slovakia 13 0
Libertas Spain
Libertas Spain
Libertas Spain is the name given to the activities of Declan Ganley's Libertas.eu in Spain. Unlike Libertas in other countries, Libertas Spain was not a political party in its own right...

50 0
Libertas United Kingdom
Libertas United Kingdom
Libertas UK may refer to three political parties in the United Kingdom: one formed by an associate of the United Kingdom Independence Party and two affiliated to Declan Ganley's Libertas Party Limited...

56Benjamin Caradoc Tallis resigned from Libertas, reducing the originally-reported total of 57 by one 0

Commonality with other organizations

Libertas was registered at Moyne Park, Tuam, County Galway along with other organisations associated with Libertas and/or Declan Ganley. A list of organizations associated with Libertas.eu and/or Declan Ganley is given here.

See also

  • Jens-Peter Bonde
    Jens-Peter Bonde
    Jens-Peter Rossen Bonde is a former Member of the European Parliament with the June Movement. He resigned as an MEP in May 2008. Bonde was elected to the European Parliament in the first election in 1979 with the People's Movement against the EU. He has been re-elected 6 times consecutively...

  • Declan Ganley
    Declan Ganley
    Declan James Ganley is a British-born Irish citizen, entrepreneur, businessman and political activist. He is founder and chairman of a political party, Libertas with pan-European ambitions...

  • European Parliament election, 2009
    European Parliament election, 2009
    Elections to the European Parliament were held in the 27 member states of the European Union between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history...

  • Treaty of Lisbon
    Treaty of Lisbon
    The Treaty of Lisbon of 1668 was a peace treaty between Portugal and Spain, concluded at Lisbon on 13 February 1668, through the mediation of England, in which Spain recognized the sovereignty of Portugal's new ruling dynasty, the House of Braganza....


External links

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