Tapping into the Obama effect

I honestly believe that 2009 will be a watershed year in politics everywhere - the election of Barack Obama last November in the US opened people's eye to what is possible using a genuinely democratic system, and the ensuing financial crisis has only reinforced that mood for change. US voters, many of them having never voted before, turned out in their millions to make sure a new administration was elected. They were not disappointed, and a new and very different America has undoubtedly been born.

Sadly those of us that wish to see genuine change in the European Union are unlikely to see anything even remotely similar. Quite the opposite in fact. Rather like in Zimbabwe, you get to vote but it makes no difference. The fact is that the destination of the European "project" has to a large degree already been decided and we are marching inexorably to a point where the pillars of national sovereignty and autonomous government are starting to crumble. Not just in the UK but all member states.

As I write this the entire political machinery of Brussels is geared towards ensuring that the Treaty of Lisbon is "acceptable" to the Irish people (yes the very same ones who rejected it last year) with a multi-million Euro marketing campaign (funded by us) to sweeten it up. Henry Ford, founder of the model T, would be proud of them - after all when it comes to a referendum as far as Brussels is concerned it seems you can give any answer you like, as long its yes.

I know its depressing but don't give up. For the very first time there is a chance to make serious and lasting changes to the way the EU operates. The West Midlands team is now taking shape and you will start to see the tangible effects of our campaign over the next six weeks

Libertas is committed to defeating the Treaty of Lisbon before it passes into law. This virtually incomprehensible legal document of some 3,000 pages (previously called the European Constitution), which has already been rejected three times by France, the Netherlands and Ireland, is still being railroaded onto some 480 million citizens - the majority of whom haven't been given any chance to vote on it, despite the fact the ones that have don't want it.

Libertas supports the European Union as a concept but we believe that major and wholesale reform of its structure, institutions and methodology is now essential. Far from weakening the EU (as some insiders claim) we will in fact strengthen it - lending it legitimacy and authority where all has now been lost.