Green Party Senator Déirdre de Búrca has called on Libertas, a group actively campaigning against the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, to clarify its position on an EU Energy Policy.  

Senator de Búrca says that an entire section of the Libertas website addresses the issue of energy policy within the Union. “The website identifies the fact that, as the world’s biggest importer, Europe is dangerously dependent on oil and gas imported from outside the bloc” says de Búrca. “It talks of the need to ‘create a new energy paradigm to promote energy alternatives’ within the EU. It also makes an explicit call for the establishment of a European Energy Innovation Fund to stimulate enterprise and innovation in relation to developing alternative energy sources within the Union.” 

The Green Party Senator has publicly questioned why the Libertas group is opposing the Lisbon Treaty which, for the first time, makes energy policy a “shared competence” between the EU and its member states, enabling the institutions of the Union to play a much more significant role in this important policy area.   

“Article 194 of the treaty states that EU policy in this area will (a) ensure the functioning of the energy market, (b) ensure security of energy supply in the Union, (c) promote energy efficiency and energy saving and the development of new and renewable forms of energy, and (d) promote the interconnection of energy networks,” said de Burca.  

“I find it difficult to understand how the Libertas organisation and the high-profile businessman Mr Declan Ganley, who is its main spokesperson, do not recognise the contradictions implicit in the content of their website.  

“Perhaps this is why Mr Ganley and his colleagues are at odds with most of the rest of the Irish business community, who support the Lisbon Treaty because they recognise the urgent need for the creation of an EU-wide energy market and the critical role that the EU can play in stimulating growth, enterprise and innovation in the renewable energy sector”.   

“EU citizens are increasingly aware that their energy future is far from secure. A vote for the Lisbon Treaty will provide the European Union with the competence to take the action necessary to promote the energy security of its citizens into the future,” concluded Senator de Búrca. 

Filed under:
European Affairs, Press Release by Deirdre