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Political positions of Libertas

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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 European Parliament election, 2009 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:

Category Question LI CPNT MPF LP MPT C
Finances and taxes The EU should acquire its own tax raising powers Completely disagree Tend to disagree Completely disagree Completely disagree Tend to disagree Completely disagree
Economy and work The EU should drastically reduce its subsidies to Europe's farmers Tend to disagree Completely disagree Completely disagree Completely disagree Completely disagree Tend to agree
European integration The European Union should be enlarged to include Turkey Completely disagree Completely disagree Completely disagree Completely disagree No opinion No opinion
Society, religion and culture Euthanasia should be legalised Completely disagree No opinion Completely disagree Completely disagree Completely disagree Tend to agree
European integration Individual member states of the EU should have less veto power Completely disagree Completely disagree Completely disagree Completely disagree No opinion Tend to agree
Society, religion and culture The legalisation of same sex marriages is a good thing Completely disagree No opinion Completely disagree Completely disagree No opinion Tend to agree
Welfare, family and health Greater efforts should be made to privatise healthcare services in your member state No opinion Tend to disagree No opinion Neutral Tend to disagree Completely disagree
Migration and immigration Immigration policies oriented towards skilled workers should be encouraged as a means of fostering economic growth Tend to disagree No opinion Completely disagree Completely disagree Neutral Tend to agree
Foreign policy On foreign policy issues, such as the relationship with Russia, the EU should speak with one voice Neutral No opinion Completely disagree Tend to disagree Tend to disagree No opinion
Society, religion and culture The decriminalisation of the personal use of soft drugs is to be welcomed No opinion No opinion No opinion Completely disagree Completely disagree Tend to agree
Finances and taxes Governments should bail out failing banks with public money No opinion Tend to disagree Completely agree Completely disagree No opinion Tend to disagree
European integration European integration is a good thing Tend to agree Completely disagree Completely disagree Neutral No opinion Tend to agree
Environment, transport and energy The promotion of public transport should be fostered through green taxes (e.g. road taxing) No opinion Completely disagree No opinion No opinion Tend to agree Neutral
Law and order Restrictions of civil liberties should be accepted in the fight against terrorism No opinion No opinion No opinion No opinion No opinion Tend to disagree
Foreign policy The European Union should strengthen its security and defence policy No opinion No opinion Neutral No opinion Tend to disagree No opinion
Finances and taxes Government spending should be reduced in order to lower taxes No opinion No opinion Completely agree No opinion Tend to disagree Tend to disagree
Economy and work Governments should reduce workers' protection regulations in order to fight unemployment No opinion No opinion No opinion No opinion No opinion Neutral
Environment, transport and energy Policies to fight global warming should be encouraged even if it hampers economic growth or employment No opinion Tend to agree No opinion Completely disagree Tend to agree Neutral
Environment, transport and energy Renewable sources of energy (e.g. solar or wind energy) should be supported even if this means higher energy costs No opinion Tend to disagree Tend to agree Completely disagree Completely agree Tend to agree
European integration Your member state is much better off in the EU than outside it Tend to agree Tend to agree Completely disagree Tend to disagree No opinion Completely agree
Welfare, family and health Social programmes should be maintained even at the cost of higher taxes No opinion Tend to agree Completely disagree Neutral Completely agree Tend to agree
Society, religion and culture Religious values and principles should be shown greater respect in politics Completely agree Tend to disagree Tend to agree Completely agree No opinion Completely disagree
European integration The European Parliament should be given more powers Tend to agree Completely agree No opinion Tend to agree Tend to disagree Neutral
Law and order Criminals should be punished more severely No opinion Neutral Completely agree Completely agree No opinion Tend to agree
Migration and immigration Immigrants from outside Europe should be required to accept our culture and values Tend to agree No opinion Completely agree Completely agree No opinion Tend to agree
Welfare, family and health State subsidies for crèches and child care should be increased substantially No opinion Completely agree Tend to agree Completely agree Tend to agree Completely agree
Migration and immigration Immigration into your member state should be made more restrictive Completely agree Completely agree Completely agree Tend to agree Neutral Tend to agree
European integration Any new European Treaty should be subject to approval in a referendum in your member state Completely agree Completely agree Completely agree Completely agree Completely agree Completely agree
Sources [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

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 [7]
Komma Fileftheron Liberal [8]

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 [9][10][11]
Mouvement pour la France [12][13]

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 [14]
Komma Fileftheron 6.27 [15]
Mouvement pour la France 6.27 [16]

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" Thursday, 26 February 2009 from the Libertas website Archived June 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ EUProfiler:FAQ
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