Libertas Poland

Libertas Poland (Libertas Polska, LP) was a political party in Poland. It contended the 2009 European Parliament elections under a common banner with Libertas Party Limited, the organization founded by Declan Ganley.

Libertas Polska
LeaderOriginally Daniel Pawłowiec[1][2]
later Declan Ganley[3][4]
Founded~2006/7[5] (as Pawlowiec's Lewica i Demokraci)
2 February 2009.[6] (announced as Libertas Polska)
24 February 2009[5] (renamed to Libertas Polska)
Dissolved2014
HeadquartersAleje Ujazdowskie 22/3, 00-478 Warsaw[7]
Ideologyanti-Lisbon Treaty, Euroscepticism
European affiliationLibertas Party Limited
European Parliament groupnone
Coloursblue, gold
Website
referendumdlapolski.pl

Pawlowiec's Lewica i Demokraci

Before the 2007 Polish parliamentary election, three LPR then-members, Cyprian Gutkowski, Daniel Pawłowiec and Sebastian Jargut, registered a party called Lewica i Demokraci, (Left and Democrats).[5] The party was a party-in-name-only designed to frustrate[5] the party of the same name, which was forced to register itself as SLD+SdPl+PD+UP – Lewica i Demokraci (LiD) instead.[5]

Declan Ganley visited[8][9] Poland on Friday 9 January 2009[10] to discuss terms for the formation of the Poland branch of Libertas with representatives from Forward Poland (NP), PSL Piast and Prawica Rzeczypospolitej (PR).[10] Ganley insisted that the Poland Libertas party used the word "Libertas" in the title but the party politicians were concerned that the non-Polish name would deter voters.[10] The name "Forward Poland - Libertas" (Naprzód Polsko – Libertas) was suggested as a compromise name[10] should NP decide to ally with Libertas.

On February 1, 2009,[11] Ganley spoke to the inaugural Warsaw meeting of the Referendum Committee (Komitetu Referendalnego), an organization advocating that referendums be held prior to treaty ratifications by Poland.[11][12] The speech was filmed and placed on YouTube (prolog, part 1, part 2). The meeting attendance was estimated at 700[12] or 500[11] and attendees included[11][13] Mirosław Orzechowski (LPR), Zdzisław Podkański (PSL), Krzysztof Filipek and Danuta Hojarska (once Samoobrona, now Party of Regions) and Antoni Tyszka (UPR), Konrad Bonisławski (head of All-Polish Youth) and Krzysztof Bosak (former LPR MP).

On February 2, 2009[6][11] a press conference was given[7] in which the head of the Referendum Committee, former LPR MP Daniel Pawłowiec, was named as head[1][2][7] of Libertas Poland (Libertas Polska, LP), and the Referendum Committee offices at Aleje Ujazdowskie 22/3, 00-478 Warsaw were named as the headquarters of Libertas Poland.[7]

Although the party had been announced, it did not exist under that name at that point: registering a political party in Poland is a lengthy process.[5] Instead, Pawlowiec's Lewica i Demokraci was renamed to Libertas Polska, the new name being registered on 24 February 2009[5]

Position

On 11 February 2009, Libertas Poland held a press conference concerning the emergency meeting of the European Council.[14] In that press conference, Libertas Poland demanded that the Polish government should reduce VAT following the UK example,[14] propose an EU joint energy policy,[14] and reopen the labor markets of Germany and Austria to Polish workers.[14]

Affiliates

Libertas attempted to get other parties to affiliate (run candidates under a common list) to it. Libertas's search for affiliates was assisted by Roman Giertych[15] and Wojciech Wierzejski,[16] with Wierzejski resigning from the leadership of LPR to devote his time to the unification of the Polish patriotic, nationalist, conservative and Christian right under a Libertas list.[17]

Parties that did affiliate to Libertas

The parties that affiliated with Libertas Poland and the parent organization Libertas.eu are as follows:

  • Forward Poland and PSL Piast
Forward Poland (Naprzód Polsko, NP) originally rejected[18] cooperation with Libertas because they felt that Libertas did not reflect their desire for a more independent Poland.[18] PSL Piast (a.k.a. Stronnictwo "Piast") also initially rejected[18][19] cooperation with Libertas for similar reasons to Forward Poland[18] and because the party did not have a Polish name.[19] Instead, the two parties planned to run their own combined list (Naprzód Polsko - Piast) in the 2009 elections.[20]
But the two parties eventually decided to affiliate to Libertas[21] and candidates from the two parties appeared on the Libertas lists.[22] The decision to affiliate was not unanimously welcomed within the two parties.[15]
There was a controversy involving allegations of forged signatures in constituency number 11[23] and the Naprzód Polsko - Piast list did field candidates in that constituency.[20]
  • Partia Regionów
Partia Regionów considered running under a Libertas list.[19] Partia Regionów's president, Bolesław Borysiuk, negotiated cooperation with Libertas Polska[24] and he announced in PR's inaugural Congress that PR's candidates were likely to run under a Libertas list alongside Libertas Polska,[25] and this did in fact occur.[22]
  • League of Polish Families
As of 9 March 2009, League of Polish Families (LPR) were still considering whether to run under a Libertas list or form their own, either by themselves or with UPR, or Prawica Rzeczypospolitej.[26] But by 19 March, Ganley was distancing Libertas from LPR.[27] Nevertheless, Libertas and LPR were still in ongoing discussions on Friday 27 March 2009[28] about running under a common list. By 21 April 2009, LPR had agreed to affiliate to Libertas[21] and their candidates did run under the Libertas list[22][29] instead of their own list[30] in the 2009 European Parliament elections.
  • Organizacja Narodu Polskiego – Liga Polska
Organizacja Narodu Polskiego – Liga Polska affiliated to Libertas.[31][32][33]
  • Zjednoczenie Chrześcijańsko-Narodowe
Zjednoczenie Chrześcijańsko-Narodowe (ZChN) affiliated to Libertas.[31][32][34]

Parties that did not affiliate to Libertas

The parties that considered affiliating with Libertas Poland and the parent organization Libertas.eu, but did not, are as follows:

  • Prawica Rzeczypospolitej
Prawica Rzeczypospolitej considered Libertas to have Eurofederalist aspects and rejected Libertas accordingly.[35] No Prawica Rzeczypospolitej candidates appeared on the Libertas list in the 2009 European Parliament elections.[22]
  • Law and Justice
Law and Justice (PiS) personnel[3] were mentioned by Pawłowiec as possible Libertas candidates, although no names were given.[3] Libertas tried to get PiS to affiliate to it[36] but it did not do so,[37] and instead ran a full list of its own,[38] although one of its members (Slawomir Ligecki[39]) did defect to Libertas.

Personnel
Person Position
Declan Ganley President[3][4]
Daniel Pawłowiec Originally President,[14] later Vice-president.[3][4] Former LPR MP
Artur Zawisza Vice-president[14] and former PR MP

TVP controversy

On 20 March 2009, journalist Hanna Lis refused to do a TVP interview with Declan Ganley.[40] Controversy promptly arose revolving around LPR's Roman Giertych[40] and whether LPR were encouraging coverage of Libertas on TVP[40] via Piotr Farfał the President of TVP[41] and a member of LPR.[40] Hanna Lis,[42] Piotr Kraśko,[42] and Jarosław Kulczycki,[42] the three presenters of a nightly news program, took sick leave in protest, forcing the news to be presented by Marcin Szczepański.[42]

European Parliament elections, 2009

Libertas Poland started work on/before 20 March 2009 on collecting sufficient signatures to field candidates,[3][4] although the number and names of those candidates was not specified.[3][4] By 2 May 2008, a Libertas Election Committee (Komitet Wyborczy Libertas) had been formed and its list consisted of 130[31] candidates, later falling to 128.[22] The breakdown was as follows:[31]

Party/Movement of
which candidates were
current/former members		 Acronym Number of
candidates on
Libertas list		 Number of
first-placed
candidates on
Libertas list
Law and Justice PiS 1 0
Organizacja Narodu Polskiego - Liga Polska ? 1 0
Zjednoczenie Chrześcijańsko-Narodowe ZChN 1 0
Radio Maryja n/a 2 2
Libertas Polska LP 3 2
Forward Poland NP 6 2
Partia Regionów PR 6 1
Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe "Piast" PSL Piast 13 1
Liga Polskich Rodzin LPR 40 2
other n/a 57 3

Results
Main article: Libertas.eu
gollark: I prefer the first one.
gollark: Unfix your unbot. Additionally, I need iterated prisoners' dilemma strategiaeae.
gollark: Fortunately, my Kindle runs an accursed Linux distribution with a JS-based UI.
gollark: The signatures appear to check out, there's no A record.
gollark: I can ask for a DNSSECized response.

See also

References
  1. "Libertas w Warszawie". Nasz Dziennik. 3 February 2009. Archived from the original on 23 May 2009.
  2. "Irish Eurosceptic party sets up in Poland". Polskie Radio. 2 February 2009.
  3. ""Nowa partia nie będzie mieć polskiego prezesa" (English translation). ONET.pl. 20 March 2009.
  4. "Partia "Libertas" została zarejestrowana w Polsce" (English translation). Polskie Radio. 20 March 2009.
  5. "Libertas powstal z... LiD-u" (English translation). newsweek.pl. 28 March 2009.
  6. "Ganley otworzył biuro Libertas w Warszawie" (English translation). RP.pl. 2 February 2009.
  7. "Otwarcie biura Libertas w Polsce". Referendum Committee website. 2 February 2009. Archived from the original (English translation) on 6 March 2012.
  8. "Declan Ganley Visits Poland". liberatas.eu. Archived from the original on 31 January 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
  9. "Ganley to set up Libertas offshoot in Poland". RTÉ News. 10 January 2009.
  10. "Irlandzki milioner tworzy w Polsce antyeuropejski ruch" (English translation). tvp.info. 7 January 2009.
  11. "Polska może być inspiracją dla innych – Declan Ganley w Warszawie". Libertas. 19 February 2009. Archived from the original (English translation) on 9 March 2009. Retrieved 12 March 2009.
  12. "Ganley launches European campaign in Poland". Irish Times. 3 February 2009.
  13. "Ganley, postrach Unii" (English translation). Gazeta Wyborcza. 2 February 2009.
  14. "Konferencja Libertas na temat szczytu Unii Europejskiej". Referendum Committee website. 11 February 2009. Archived from the original (English translation) on 6 March 2012.
  15. Zapałowski, Andrzej. "Naszym zdaniem: NIE ZA WSZELKĄ CENĘ". rs-naprzodpolsko.pl.
  16. "Wierzejski oddaje władzę w LPR". tvn24.pl. 20 April 2009.
  17. "Liga znowu straciła swoją głowę: Wierzejski porzuca fotel szefa LPR". dziennik.pl. 19 April 2009.
  18. "Skrajna prawica razem, ale bez Libertas" (English translation). rp.pl. 1 March 2009.
  19. "Lubelszczyzna - desant o. Rydzyka" (English translation). Gazeta Wyborcza. 26 March 2009.
  20. "Koalicyjny Komitet Wyborczy Naprzód Polsko - Piast". Archived from the original on 24 August 2011.
  21. "Libertas allies with fringe right wing in Poland". polskieradio.pl. Archived from the original on 1 May 2009.
  22. "Komitet Wyborczy Libertas". Archived from the original on 23 May 2009.
  23. "NAPRZÓD POLSKO I KPN RAZEM".
  24. "Borysiuk otworzy listę Libertas na Lubelszczyźnie?". radio.lublin.pl. 28 March 2009.
  25. "Pierwszy kongres polskiej Partii Regionów" (in Polish). wiadomosci.wp.pl. 18 April 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2009.
  26. "LPR coraz bliżej podjęcia decyzji, z kim do eurowyborów" (English translation). gazetaprawna.pl. 9 March 2009.
  27. "Libertas to cut links with controversial Polish political party". Irish Times. 19 March 2009.
  28. "Do PE startują Libertas, LPR, UPR, Prawica i PDP". newsweek.pl. 29 March 2009. Archived from the original (English translation) on 13 January 2013.
  29. "Kandydaci Stronnictwa 'Piast' w wyborach do Parlamentu Europejskiego ogłoszonych na dzień". 7 June 2009. Archived from the original on 6 May 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
  30. "Komitet Wyborczy Liga Polskich Rodzin". Archived from the original on 24 August 2011.
  31. "LIBERTAS - największe oszustwo wyborcze w wyborach do Parlamentu Europejskiego 2009 r." Archived from the original on 7 May 2009.
  32. "Wojciech Wierzejski komentuje rejestrację list: Hasłem naszym Wolność będzie i Ojczyzna nasza!". Archived from the original on 23 May 2009.
  33. "Libertas list candidates in constituency number 4". Archived from the original on 23 May 2009.
  34. "Libertas list candidates in constituency number 8". Archived from the original on 23 May 2009.
  35. "Jurek: Nie działamy w izolacji" (English translation). dziennik.pl. 9 March 2009.
  36. "Libertas Wants PiS to Split". wprost.pl. 22 April 2009. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011.
  37. "Z całą pewnością oba stanowiska są dla nas nie do uzyskania". pis.org.pl. 4 May 2009. Archived from the original on 8 May 2009.
  38. "Komitet Wyborczy Prawo i Sprawiedliwość". Archived from the original on 24 August 2011.
  39. "Libertas list candidates in constituency 13". Archived from the original on 24 August 2011.
  40. "Lis nie chce chodzić na pasku Giertycha" (English translation). dziennik.pl. 20 March 2009.
  41. "FARFAŁ PREZESEM TELEWIZJI PUBLICZNEJ: Będą czystki w TVP". TVN24.pl. 29 December 2008.
  42. "On zastąpił Hannę Lis i Piotra Kraśkę" (English translation). dziennik.pl. 26 March 2009.
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