By Martin Banks - 2nd September 2008
A chasm has already opened between the EU and its citizens and unless the EU respects the will of the people it will be signing the death warrant for the whole European project
Irish businessman and no campaign leader Declan Ganley
Multi-millionaire Irish no campaigner Declan Ganley has called on the EU to respect the wishes of its citizens and shelve the stalled Lisbon treaty once and for all.
Ganley, chairman of Libertas, the group spearheading the no campaign in the Irish referendum last June, was in parliament on Tuesday for a series of discussions on why he and other Irish voters rejected the treaty.
The Galway businessman said that failure to abide by the outcome of the vote would sound the death knell for the EU.
"A chasm has already opened between the EU and its citizens and unless the EU respects the will of the people it will be signing the death warrant for the whole European project," he said.
He said the Irish vote "reflected the disconnect" between citizens and those in the EU "who purport to act in their interests".
Stressing his pro-European credentials, Ganley, who divides his time between Galway and Washington, strongly denied he was a Eurosceptic and praised the EU for the "wonderful things" it had done both for his own country and the rest of the continent.
However, he added, "When people vote on something you should respect the outcome. I am proud of the fact that Ireland had a vigorous debate on the treaty and that every possible angle was brought into the discussions.
"But the Irish people made their decision and the EU should respect that decision. I have no doubt that if the reworked treaty was put back to people in France and the Netherlands they too would reject it out of hand."
He voiced concern that elements of the treaty had already been enacted, adding, "This begs the question - why is Brussels not prepared to accept the democratically expressed will of tens of millions of people across Europe?"
Despite his remarks, the London-born Ganley praised the EU project, describing it as the "most successful peacetime process in the history of the world".
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