GREEN PARTY candidate for the European Parliament Senator Déirdre de Búrca has claimed her political opponents in the Libertas organisation are having so much difficulty attracting candidates that they have had to resort to issuing general invitations by e-mail.
The Senator said she had received an invitation to stand for Libertas which had also been “sent to thousands of e-mail addresses”.
She had refused the invitation for “many reasons”.
“It highlights the difficulty Libertas are apparently having in attracting candidates across Europe,” she said. “Their lack of a coherent policy platform may explain why candidates are reluctant to run.”
The e-mail, headed “Be a Candidate” was sent out to persons on the Libertas mailing list with the following message: “While the other parties rely on the same old politicians with the same old, tired ideas . . . we want YOU to run. We need real people with fresh ideas, not out-of-touch élites.
“That’s where you come in. Here’s your chance to become a candidate, or nominate someone you know to be a candidate, to join our movement.”
The e-mail contains a link to www.libertas.eu/candidate where interested persons from any of the 27 EU member states are invited to nominate themselves or a friend as a Libertas candidate for Strasbourg, as well as providing “reasons for candidacy”.
Libertas candidate for Dublin Caroline Simons said she was “really not all that bothered” that Ms de Búrca had “ostentatiously declined an e-mail invitation sent to thousands of Libertas supporters across Europe”.
“However, I am truly delighted that Déirdre is one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have signed up for e-mail updates at Libertas.eu. Each day, our campaign reaches supporters and interested parties through the internet and new media.”
She continued: “Whilst Déirdre completely misunderstands the internet as a crucial element of modern-day political campaigning and reaching interested voters, we do hope she finds the time to engage with the people of Dublin on real issues rather than wasting the time of her PR staff writing e-mails about e-mails.”
Meanwhile, Declan Ganley has rejected a claim by Independent MEP for Ireland Northwest Marian Harkin that Eline van den Broek, a Libertas candidate in the Netherlands is “pro-abortion and pro-euthanasia”.
The Libertas leader said: “Not only are these allegations totally false, they are irrelevant.”