By Martin Banks - 4th February 2009
I spoke with president Pöttering last night (Tuesday) and he confirmed to me that the bureau will query the decision to grant this group funding
Andrew Duff
This hypocrisy is the very reason why right across Europe, people are looking for a new kind of politics. Libertas will not be deterred from its aim of bringing a message of change and reform to the people of Europe this summer, and these disgusting and
Libertas press statement
European parliament chiefs are to review their decision to grant financial assistance to Libertas, the anti-Lisbon treaty group.
The move comes after Estonian MP Igor Grazin denied putting his name to an application by Libertas to apply for official status as a pan-European party.
The assembly’s bureau, the institution’s key decision-making body, backed Libertas’s application on Monday, granting it €200,000 funding, but will now reconsider the decision “in the next few weeks.”
UK ALDE deputy Andrew Duff told this website on Wednesday that Grazin has told parliament’s president Hans-Gert Pöttering that he “completely disowns” Declan Ganley, Libertas's Irish founder, and had withdrawn his support for his party.
Duff added, “I spoke with president Pöttering last night (Tuesday) and he confirmed to me that the bureau will query the decision to grant this group funding.
“This means that Libertas will receive no EU funds until this matter is resolved.”
Duff, meanwhile, strongly refuted claims made by Libertas that Grazin, a member of the liberal Reform Party, had been put under “immense pressure” to renounce his support of Libertas.
Libertas said this was “an attack no only on Grazin but on the principles of democracy and free speech.”
In a statement issued on Tuesday night, Libertas also repeated its assertion that Grazin had, in fact, signed its application for party status.
“His signature is in our possession and will be posted on the Libertas.eu website," it said.
The statement goes on to say, “In and of itself, this matter is not significant. Libertas can if necessary get many times the number of required signatures elsewhere. What is more significant is that while the leader of the Liberal group issues statements welcoming our entry to the European political arena, his political assassins do everything they can to sabotage the democratic process.”
This was seen as a reference to ALDE group leader Graham Watson who, speaking on Monday about Libertas’s funding bid, said, “We live in a pan-European democracy. All creeds and colours should be tolerated as long as they comply with the rules laid down on party funding.
"The market for eurosceptic voices is becoming increasingly competitive, but the presence of Libertas may well raise public interest in the European elections.”
Libertas said, “This hypocrisy is the very reason why right across Europe, people are looking for a new kind of politics. Libertas will not be deterred from its aim of bringing a message of change and reform to the people of Europe this summer, and these disgusting and cowardly tactics only underline the fact that Europe's detached elite know that their time is running out."
The group’s spokesman John McGurk said they were not troubled by the review because they could “easily” get an elected representative from another EU country to sign the application.
Under EU rules, an organisation seeking to become a pan-European party entitling it to EU funds must obtain the signatures of elected representatives from at least seven EU member states.
If Grazin withdraws his support Libertas will have only signatures from six nations.
Duff denied any pressure had been put on the Estonian, saying, “He is his own man and no such pressure has been put on him.”
Grazin, who sits in the Estonian parliament, has declined to speak to the media about the row.
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