Irish millionaire seeking Maltese candidates for MEP elections

Frederick Attard

Dec 15th 2008, 17:20

Can somebody tell me how many Maltese people truly know about the Lisbon Treaty and its contents? To the majority, they have no clue what this is all about.

The Lisbon treaty gives far more executive powers to Brussels that will enable them to change rules & laws applicable to all 27 EU member states without the need to consult the population of the same countries.

Libertas is in favour of EU but it opposes more central power to Brussels. Basically Libertas wants us, the people, to be consulted for approval when decisions or issues of certain important matters need to be taken.

The Lisbon treaty was approved by the Maltese parliament in just one sitting, barely a 2 hour debate. So whether we liked it or not, we did not have a say.

If you do not want to be consulted, than do not think further about Libertas however, if on the other hand you would like a chance to express your opinion in refernda, than you should read more by visiting www.libertas.eu

D Vella

Dec 15th 2008, 15:53

Mr Ganley's last quote says it all. It is not 'Europe' at all costs.

M. Mercieca

Dec 15th 2008, 14:18

Why EU leaders still scrambling for a solution on Ire-Land?

Things seem to be developing off- natural democratic course.
Reaction of the EU leaders to the Irish NO result is sending couple of unpleasant signals:
•In referendum, a No result does necessarily means a NO. (Malta-Dr. Sant style)
•Peoples, are welcomed only to express opinions that powerful ‘elite ‘organizations want them to express (Zimbabwe, Mugabe-style)
Pretending to dismiss Irish opinion, as the European leaders are doing now, risks turning a democratic deficit into a democratic chasm.
If the Irish were not sure whether they made the right decision by voting a NO to the Lisbon Treaty, the reaction by many European leaders had confirmed that they made the right thing.
In real democracy, people’s opinion must be counted. If not, over the coming years we will see more controversial issues are going to be loaded onto the EU, and at the same time its slender support in public opinion withers further.
One can not understand why Brussels response is simply to pretend as if nothing had happened in Ireland referendum?
Can a football game be re-played if a team loses?

lgalea

Dec 15th 2008, 13:29

mrs. rene o'riordan
Very good points Mrs Rene.
The problem is that so many politicians are blinded by the perks and vanity attached to eu institutions that they forget their duty towards their countries and their citizens and sell their very soul and their own mother for the eu perks and vanity.

John Rae

Dec 15th 2008, 13:10

Rarely reported is the fact that Lisbon was narrowly defeated in Ireland and many Irish voters were simply confused and decided to be cautious. Our government ran a terrible campaign not helped by Commissoner McCreevy declaring he hadn't read the Treaty. Our government, fresh from a dealyed leadership change, were wrong footed by the No campaign and never got their message out clearly. Libertas filled this vacuum with doubt. Let's not forget Libertas is an unelected single agenda pressure group and have never revealed their funding sources. In a rerun Lisbon will pass - once bitten.

mrs. rene o'riordan

Dec 15th 2008, 11:46

Libertas were not the only ones worried about the Lisbon Treaty - many faithful catholics were deeply concerned about anti-christian laws being imposed apon us from europe under the guise of human rights for example; "women's right to choose"; to choose what - to kill their unborn, or the imposition of sex education programmes into our schools, robbing parents of their right to teach their children, in a natural way about marital love, or the imposition of gay adoption rights, which already have been the cause of catholic adoption agencies, which have been in existence since the 18 hundreds to close down. So don't misread what the Irish meant when to said No. We knew what we were doing; we're not stupid! - Blessings - Rene

Kostas Papadopoulos

Dec 15th 2008, 11:43

I think that this initiative is a good one and should be welcomed by all true democrats in Europe.
At the very least it gives people who were denied a referendum on the EU Constitution, which is what the Lisbon Treaty is, an opportunity to discuss the contents of the Treaty and the effect it will have on the direction the EU is taking. Unfortunately the Treaty is very complex and most politicians throughout the EU have admitted that they have not read it and those who have read it say it is almost impossible to understand. It is important for the EU that the citizens of the member states understand what is happening in Brussels and we all benefit when a free and open debate takes place.

Ramon Casha

Dec 15th 2008, 10:38

Any candidates which join a party which has the sole aim of opposing the Lisbon treaty are, by definition, not high-calibre.

Kevin Zammit

Dec 15th 2008, 09:32

Mr Ganley.

That the EU is opaque is nothing new to anybody but neither can it develop momentum in its current state. You are veiling your anti-EU rhetoric with reasoned arguments of a different nature. This renders you non credible.

Every attempt at creating some form of representation at national level has been sabotaged by national politics. This to the detriment of the the entire EU project. Historically such federalism has never happened in a democratic fashion because the interest of the majority cannot be determined by the selfishness of the individual.

To say that the Lisbon Treaty is being passed in total obscurity is completely false since our politicians still need to face the public at the end of their legislature. I could argue that it would be more fair to actually implement first and vote later since time would prove who was or wrong. On the other hand claiming that once the ink is dry it becomes too late to go back is false as well as there are many issues that the EU has back tracked on.

In the meantime doing nothing is not an option either.