Britannia Radio

The smear cam paign - FUNDED BY YOU AND ME - gathers pace.

These anti-democrats headed by the president of the EU Partliament, 
the neo-nazi Hans-Gert Poettering  [who has stifled discussion in the 
parliament itself]  will stoop to any mud-slinging and misinformation 
they can to ensure that the Lisbon Treaty, a totally anti-democratic 
document, is enshrined in EU law so that never again need the peoples 
of Europe even be considered as having a voice in the matter.

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THE PARLIAMENT [EU version]   22.9.08
MEPs to investigate funding for Irish anti-Lisbon group
  MEPs are to look into reports that Libertas, the group which 
successfully campaigned for a no vote in the Irish referendum, 
received US funding for its campaign.

During a plenary session in Brussels this week, MEPs will investigate 
Irish press reports that say Declan Ganley, the multi-millionaire 
businessman behind Libertas, has significant business interests in 
America which could have been a factor in the group’s opposition to 
the treaty.

Following recent media reports, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, joint leader of 
the Greens [and a former terrorist -cs] /EFA group in parliament, 
issued a statement which said, “We are awaiting confirmation of 
reports in the media regarding funding of Libertas’ campaign for a no 
vote to the Lisbon treaty in Ireland.

“If proved true, this would clearly show that there are forces in the 
United States willing to pay people to destabilise a strong and 
autonomous Europe.

“If this can happen for the treaty vote, it raises grave concerns for 
interference in next year’s European elections. The Greens intend to 
urgently raise this issue during this week’s plenary session.”

In an 18 September article, the Irish Examiner said that Libertas 
founder and anti-Lisbon campaigner Declan Ganley had contracts worth 
over €200m with the US military, which the paper suggested was 
opposed to the strengthened EU military capability foreseen under 
Lisbon.   [This shows how irresponsible they are.  They say anything 
untrue to slag someone off! The US calls ceaselessly for the 
Europeans to spend more on defence and not to shovel it all onto 
American backs-cs]

No-one from Libertas, based in Ireland, was available for comment 
but, in the past, Ganley has insisted that his US interests were not 
a factor in his opposition to the treaty.

According to press reports, he has also denied that his company, 
Rivada Networks, is a source of funding for Libertas.

In a recent appearance in parliament with Eurosceptic MEPs, Ganley 
denied he was anti-European but said he believes the treaty would 
lead to a less democratic and less transparent EU.

Libertas was the main group campaigning against the treaty ahead of 
the Irish referendum last June, in which almost 54 per cent of voters 
rejected the document.

A recent poll carried out by the Irish government found that the 
majority of those who voted no did so because they didn’t understand 
the text.
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IRISH INDEPENDENT    23.9.08
EU President demands probe into source of Libertas funding
By Darren Ennis and Aine Kerr

THE president of the European Parliament yesterday demanded a full 
investigation into anti-Lisbon treaty group Libertas over the source 
of its funding.

Hans-Gert Poettering [Yes - Him again -cs] said serious questions 
needed to be asked about where Libertas had got its money from and 
the links of its chief Declan Ganley to the US military.
"We require total transparency. We need to know how much money 
Libertas had and where it came from," Mr Poettering said at the 
opening of this week's plenary session in Brussels.

Investigation
"A total of €200,000 came from a single donor who was a key organiser 
for Libertas and has military procurement contracts with the US 
government. I ask Dick Roche, the Irish Europe minister, to make sure 
he carries out a full and thorough investigation so that we can have 
full transparency."

Speaking as he arrived in Brussels last night, Mr Roche said his 
European counterparts had "huge concerns" about Libertas's funding 
and its fundraising plans for the future.

"During the campaign, Mr Ganley talked about lack of transparency, 
lack of accountability and lack of democracy in Europe, which I 
disagreed with. Yet, he's the very one who has shown absolutely no 
transparency and no accountability," the Irish European Affairs 
Minister said.

"Reviewing the Libertas funding, which is the same for all parties as 
we all have to make a disclosure, is a matter for the Standards in 
Public Office Commission (SIPO). I've no doubt that given recent 
statements about €200,000 loans there will be significant interest in 
Libertas."

Mr Ganley last week admitted to loaning €200,000 of his own money to 
Libertas after reports had surfaced that his company Rivada has 
contracts with the US military worth hundreds of millions of euro.

Under campaign finance laws, loans which are not subject to normal 
commercial terms -- involving interest, a repayment schedule and a 
formal agreement -- can be classed as donations.

Mr Ganley has insisted the loan he gave to the organisation was a 
normal commercial transaction subject to standard terms. However, he 
has also confirmed that Libertas has yet to begin repaying the loan.

Maximum
Under EU rules, the maximum donation allowed is just over €6,000, 
meaning that if Ganley's loan is classed as a donation, he could be 
liable to prosecution.

"There is now a direct link between Irish referendum, the US military 
and the Pentagon. I call on the authorities to probe the matter," 
said Greens' leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit.
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IRISH TIMES   23.9.08
MEPs seeking source of Libertas funding

    JAMIE SMYTH in Brussels
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT president Hans-Gert Pottering has called on 
Libertas founder Declan Ganley to reveal where he got the funds to 
campaign against the Lisbon Treaty.

He has also asked the parliament's political groups to consider 
launching an inquiry to discover whether US agencies actively 
supported Libertas in the June 12th referendum.

"We require total transparency because the people who attack us 
always call upon us to show transparency. We cannot have double 
standards," said Mr Pottering, who added that Mr Ganley needed to 
reveal where and how much money he spent in the Irish campaign.

Mr Pottering was responding to a speech by Green Party president 
Daniel Cohn-Bendit at the opening of the parliament's monthly plenary 
session in Brussels. Mr Cohn-Bendit called on the EU council to 
undertake an investigation into Libertas funding to determine if 
claims of interference by US bodies such as the CIA or Pentagon were 
true.

"We are awaiting confirmation of reports in the media regarding 
funding of Libertas's campaign for a No vote to the Lisbon Treaty. If 
proved true, this would clearly show that there are forces in the US 
willing to pay people to destabilise a strong and autonomous Europe," 
he later explained in a press statement.
"If this can happen for the Lisbon Treaty vote, it raises grave 
concerns for interference in next year's European elections."

The leaders of the parliament's political groups are expected to 
discuss the issue in coming weeks and determine whether they should 
ask the council to investigate the Libertas funding or establish its 
own committee of inquiry staffed by MEPs.

Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald also called on Libertas to explain 
its funding.
"I too favour transparency in funding. I also favour the respect for 
democratic outcomes and that this body should note that all of the 
campaigns that fought and won the argument for a No vote with the 
exception of one have published full and frank accounts," she said.

Fianna Fáil MEP Eoin Ryan said his party had been open and 
transparent about its funding, but Libertas had "told us one thing 
and now we discover it is very different".

Last week Mr Ganley disclosed that he gave a personal loan of 
€200,000 to help fund the Libertas campaign against the Lisbon 
Treaty. During the Lisbon campaign, the communications director for 
Libertas John McGuirk said it had a budget of €1.3 million