The eurosceptic Libertas party is setting up a branch in Poland ahead of June's European parliamentary election, its leader, Irish multi-millionaire Declan Ganley, announced on Sunday, according to Reuters. "We want the 2009 EP elections to be a referendum against the Lisbon Treaty," Polish news media reported him telling supporters representing a handful of small rightist parties. Ganley, who bankrolled a campaign leading to the rejection of the treaty by Irish voters last year, said he was not opposed to the European Union as such but to the Lisbon Treaty which he contends would limit member states' national sovereignty. "In all the countries where Libertas sets up branches, election coalitions will be created to draw up common lists of candidates," he added. Although the proposed Lisbon Treaty would slash Poland's voting power in the EU compared with the currently binding Treaty of Nice, surveys have shown Poles to favour its ratification by a slim majority. The treaty, which is to replace the never implemented European Constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005, has yet to be signed by the presidents of Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland. Eurosceptic Polish President Lech Kaczynski has declined to sign the treaty until it is accepted by Ireland.
