EUROPE NEEDS a treaty that streamlines the EU and provides strong leadership, the chair of anti-Lisbon Treaty group Libertas has argued, but such goals can only be achieved if the sovereignty of Europe remains vested in its citizens instead of an "unaccountable Brussels elite".
Addressing a gathering of Danish eurosceptics in Copenhagen at the weekend, Declan Ganley described the Lisbon Treaty as "disastrous", referring to it as a "failed plan" and "flawed document". He claimed that the political elites of Europe want the treaty implemented so as to "lock the people outside the doors to power, and place it in the hands of their unelect".
He pledged that Libertas would leave "no stone unturned" in its campaign for a No vote in the forthcoming referendum.
Mr Ganley was in Copenhagen to receive an award from the June Movement, a Danish eurosceptic political group that takes its name from the referendum on the Maastricht Treaty that took place in Denmark in June 1992.
The Libertas chair said he is fully supportive of the EU. "I believe that European integration has been good for Ireland, good for Denmark, and good for all of Europe. I have great hope for its future," he said.
Europe, he continued, needs to "reform itself and give itself the flexibility to lead" in a changing world.
"We do need a new treaty for Europe. We need a treaty that trims and streamlines Europe. We need an end to wasteful bureaucracy. We need strong and certain leadership," Mr Ganley said.
But, he argued, under the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, European citizens "will be deprived of the power to do anything other than offer Brussels helpful suggestions by a petition, which they can ignore . . . A single mouth will speak for the people of Europe on matters of international importance, and that voice will have no ears. A president will decide the direction our economies, and our cultures, and that president will have no mandate.
"A golden circle of leaders will decide our future for us by majority vote, regardless of minority opinion. The European Parliament will remain little more than a very worthy talking shop."
He told the Danish gathering that discussion on the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland so far had not extended much beyond "small issues".
"It has been about whether we should keep our commissioner. It has been about how much money our farmers get. It has been about taxation. These issues are open to debate.
"What is not open to debate is whether it is a good idea to sign into office a generation of bureaucrats who are three degrees removed from accountability."
Mr Ganley said he was hopeful that Ireland would vote No.
"Europe deserves better than what is before us. We cannot risk the consequences of a Yes vote in Ireland," he said.
"I am hopeful that they will say no to an unaccountable Brussels elite, that they will send them back to the drawing board with a message for democracy, accountability and transparency at the heart of Europe."