Declan Ganley, the leader of Libertas, is hoping to field more than 100 candidates in a number of countries in the European elections next year.

Ganley said that his group, which played a key role in defeating the Lisbon treaty referendum in Ireland 10 days ago, now wants to “turn the tables on Brussels” by using the 2009 election as a “proxy referendum” on the treaty. This week, Libertas will launch a Europe-wide fundraising campaign and begin a recruitment drive in an effort to find suitable candidates in a “significant number of member states”. Ganley said he already has offers of assistance from sitting MEPs such as Hans-Peter Martin, an Austrian who supported the No vote in Ireland.

Libertas will aim to recruit non-political candidates. Its European campaign will be organised from Brussels by Jens-Peter Bonde, a former Danish MEP.

“This is under active consideration because the Irish vote is not being respected. If we can make it succeed, we will do it,” Ganley said yesterday. “The response from across Europe has been huge. Brussels won’t give the people of Europe a referendum, but we will.”

Ganley said the group would ask people opposed to the treaty to vote for Libertas or candidates it endorses. “We will look for people with a proven record in business, law, the arts and other sectors who believe in what we are doing and want to get involved.”

Libertas’ aim will be to win 70 seats in the EU to have a mandate against Lisbon in countries such as Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, and Denmark.

“If it worked and you got anywhere close to that figure, you would be able to start the process of shutting Lisbon down,” he said. “You would have a real party in Brussels, not like the ‘makey-uppy’ ones there now.”

Ganley said Brussels had ignored the Irish message. “They throw out weasel words that they respect the outcome of the Irish referendum, and then in the next breath make it absolutely clear that they have nothing but contempt for the Irish result.”

He was critical of Brian Cowen, the taoiseach, for telling his European counterparts that the treaty was dead. “He should have gone in there and said ‘stop ratification immediately’. He didn’t, and so it would seem that, like Brussels, Cowen is not taking No for an answer either.”

Ganley vowed that Libertas would campaign against a second referendum in Ireland unless the Lisbon treaty included the changes his organisation had highlighted.

“If France and Germany are saying that Ireland should have a second referendum, what I want to know is, when will they be having theirs? These people are bullying Ireland in the worst possible way. They are the ones that brought in the lawyers to make sure they wouldn’t have to ask their own people to support the treaty.”

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