Political positions of Libertas

The political positions of Libertas were the political positions of members or affiliates of Libertas, the umbrella title given to a constellation of organizations associated with Declan Ganley. Candidates and parties underneath its pan-European arm, Libertas.eu contended the 2009 European Parliament elections.

Preamble

Libertas is a political party founded by Declan Ganley that took part in the 2009 European Parliament election in several member states of the European Union. For the purposes of contending those elections, Libertas candidates ran under lists (the lists of candidates presented to voters in a European election) branded with the Libertas identity, as exemplified by the French approach.[1][2] Each list was made up of some combination of the following:

  • members of member parties (member parties usually had names in the Libertas X format e.g. "Libertas Sweden"[3])
  • members of affiliate parties (parties that were not members of Libertas.eu but cooperate with it electorally)
  • individual members (people who chose to join Libertas.eu as individuals. Candidates that ran under Libertas lists but who had no national party membership were automatically individual members).

Their political positions were as follows:

EUProfiler

The EUProfiler was produced by a consortium of three institutions (Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Kieskompas and the University of Zurich)[4] analysing parties taking part in the 2009 elections. Some of those parties were Libertas. A summary of their analyses is given below.

Hix-Lord diagram
Six Libertas party positions at 29 May 2009 (see description for sources).

The EUProfiler gave the positions of political parties on the left-right and Eurosceptic spectra. Six of those parties were Libertas parties. They were as follows:

Those positions are summarized on the Hix-Lord diagram (a type of political compass) on the right. The Eurosceptic parties are towards the bottom, Europhile parties towards the top, the left-wing parties are towards the left, and right-wing parties towards the right.

Profile

The EUProfiler also collated party statements into their positions on distinct questions. A summary of those collations for the six Libertas parties analysed is as follows:

CategoryQuestionLICPNTMPFLPMPTC
Finances and taxesThe EU should acquire its own tax raising powersCompletely disagreeTend to disagreeCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeTend to disagreeCompletely disagree
Economy and workThe EU should drastically reduce its subsidies to Europe's farmersTend to disagreeCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeTend to agree
European integrationThe European Union should be enlarged to include TurkeyCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeNo opinionNo opinion
Society, religion and cultureEuthanasia should be legalisedCompletely disagreeNo opinionCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeTend to agree
European integrationIndividual member states of the EU should have less veto powerCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeNo opinionTend to agree
Society, religion and cultureThe legalisation of same sex marriages is a good thingCompletely disagreeNo opinionCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeNo opinionTend to agree
Welfare, family and healthGreater efforts should be made to privatise healthcare services in your member stateNo opinionTend to disagreeNo opinionNeutralTend to disagreeCompletely disagree
Migration and immigrationImmigration policies oriented towards skilled workers should be encouraged as a means of fostering economic growthTend to disagreeNo opinionCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeNeutralTend to agree
Foreign policyOn foreign policy issues, such as the relationship with Russia, the EU should speak with one voiceNeutralNo opinionCompletely disagreeTend to disagreeTend to disagreeNo opinion
Society, religion and cultureThe decriminalisation of the personal use of soft drugs is to be welcomedNo opinionNo opinionNo opinionCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeTend to agree
Finances and taxesGovernments should bail out failing banks with public moneyNo opinionTend to disagreeCompletely agreeCompletely disagreeNo opinionTend to disagree
European integrationEuropean integration is a good thingTend to agreeCompletely disagreeCompletely disagreeNeutralNo opinionTend to agree
Environment, transport and energyThe promotion of public transport should be fostered through green taxes (e.g. road taxing)No opinionCompletely disagreeNo opinionNo opinionTend to agreeNeutral
Law and orderRestrictions of civil liberties should be accepted in the fight against terrorismNo opinionNo opinionNo opinionNo opinionNo opinionTend to disagree
Foreign policyThe European Union should strengthen its security and defence policyNo opinionNo opinionNeutralNo opinionTend to disagreeNo opinion
Finances and taxesGovernment spending should be reduced in order to lower taxesNo opinionNo opinionCompletely agreeNo opinionTend to disagreeTend to disagree
Economy and workGovernments should reduce workers' protection regulations in order to fight unemploymentNo opinionNo opinionNo opinionNo opinionNo opinionNeutral
Environment, transport and energyPolicies to fight global warming should be encouraged even if it hampers economic growth or employmentNo opinionTend to agreeNo opinionCompletely disagreeTend to agreeNeutral
Environment, transport and energyRenewable sources of energy (e.g. solar or wind energy) should be supported even if this means higher energy costsNo opinionTend to disagreeTend to agreeCompletely disagreeCompletely agreeTend to agree
European integrationYour member state is much better off in the EU than outside itTend to agreeTend to agreeCompletely disagreeTend to disagreeNo opinionCompletely agree
Welfare, family and healthSocial programmes should be maintained even at the cost of higher taxesNo opinionTend to agreeCompletely disagreeNeutralCompletely agreeTend to agree
Society, religion and cultureReligious values and principles should be shown greater respect in politicsCompletely agreeTend to disagreeTend to agreeCompletely agreeNo opinionCompletely disagree
European integrationThe European Parliament should be given more powersTend to agreeCompletely agreeNo opinionTend to agreeTend to disagreeNeutral
Law and orderCriminals should be punished more severelyNo opinionNeutralCompletely agreeCompletely agreeNo opinionTend to agree
Migration and immigrationImmigrants from outside Europe should be required to accept our culture and valuesTend to agreeNo opinionCompletely agreeCompletely agreeNo opinionTend to agree
Welfare, family and healthState subsidies for crèches and child care should be increased substantiallyNo opinionCompletely agreeTend to agreeCompletely agreeTend to agreeCompletely agree
Migration and immigrationImmigration into your member state should be made more restrictiveCompletely agreeCompletely agreeCompletely agreeTend to agreeNeutralTend to agree
European integrationAny new European Treaty should be subject to approval in a referendum in your member stateCompletely agreeCompletely agreeCompletely agreeCompletely agreeCompletely agreeCompletely agree
Sources

CPDS

The University of Bern Institute for Political Science (Universität Bern, Institut für Politikwissenschaft) maintains comparative political datasets CPDS I,II and III classifying political parties from the OECD and EU into distinct political families. Two of those parties were Libertas parties. The CPDS characterized those parties as follows:

Libertas member/affiliate Political family Sources
League of Polish Families Religious
Komma Fileftheron Liberal

Human rights monitors

The Anti-Defamation League, United Nations, and Council of Europe monitor parties for use of racist, xenophobic and/or anti-Semitic discourse. Two of those parties were Libertas parties. They are as follows:

Libertas member/affiliate Sources
League of Polish Families
Mouvement pour la France

Left-right positions

The Oscarsson and Dahlberg paper "Mapping the European Party Space: Does Party System Simplicity produce Democratic Legitimacy?" characterized parties on the left-right spectrum. Three of those parties were Libertas parties. Oscarsson and Dahlberg characterized those parties as follows (data from 2004):

Libertas member/affiliate Score (0=extreme left, 10=extreme right) Sources
League of Polish Families 7.25
Komma Fileftheron 6.27
Mouvement pour la France 6.27

Notes
  1. "Libertas Poland" here refers to the party of that name in Poland, not to the Libertas list of the same name, a coalition of Libertas Poland with NP, PSL Piast, PR, LPF candidates

References
  1. "Européennes : Frédéric Nihous et Philippe de Villiers feront campagne commune", La Tribune, March 4, 2009, English translation here
  2. "Villiers et Nihous pour un «protectionnisme européen»", Le Figaro, 9 March 2009
  3. "Hjälp Libertas bli ett registrerat parti" Archived 2009-02-27 at the Wayback Machine Thursday, 26 February 2009 from the Libertas website Archived June 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  4. EUProfiler:FAQ
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