LIBERTAS WILL need to run a significant number of candidates in next year's European Parliament elections if it is to be an effective pan-European party, its founder Declan Ganley has said.
The leader of the anti-Lisbon Treaty group yesterday confirmed a report in Saturday's Irish Times that his organisation has registered as a European political party.
He also said that Libertas would need substantial resources to mount a campaign, adding that candidates would need to stand in at least seven or eight states to make the move worthwhile.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme, he said that the purpose was to offer other EU states an opportunity to vote on the Lisbon Treaty. "It will give people across Europe an option that they were not given, to have a proxy European referendum on the Lisbon Treaty," he said.
Mr Ganley said no final decision had been taken on launching the party.
He added that Libertas was continuing its work in travelling through Europe and talking to people who might be interested in standing as candidates.
He accepted there was a danger that the success of the Libertas campaign might not be repeated across Europe, but he said that the response so far was positive.
"I am very confident that there is a comfortable and decent majority that shares exactly the same view as was expressed in our own vote," he said.
Maintaining that he was not a Eurosceptic, he argued: "This is moderate, decent people, who want the EU to work but recognise that Europe as envisioned in the Lisbon Treaty is not one that will respect democracy."
He said the registration will enable Libertas to raise funds in some European states.
Lawyers were examining compliance issues with fundraising laws in different states, he added.
He also said that Libertas had fully complied with the Irish laws on fundraising.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald yesterday criticised Taoiseach Brian Cowen for not informing the Dáil last week that he intends to re-run the referendum on the treaty.
She also claimed that Mr Cowen had "done little or nothing" to move the situation forward and seemed unwilling to search for a solution.
Speaking outside the Dáil, Ms McDonald said: "Sinn Féin has offered to work with the Taoiseach to address the many key issues of concern to the electorate, particularly in the areas of workers' rights, public services, tax sovereignty and democracy.
"But Brian Cowen seems intent instead to sit on his hands waiting for a solution to drop out of the sky, or as it now seems, until president Sarkozy tells him what to do," she said.
