Libertas Poland

Before the 2007 Polish parliamentary election, three LPR then-members, Cyprian Gutkowski, Daniel Pawłowiec and Sebastian Jargut, registered a party called Lewica i Demokraci, (Left and Democrats).[5] The party was a party-in-name-only designed to frustrate[5] the party of the same name, which was forced to register itself as SLD+SdPl+PD+UP – Lewica i Demokraci (LiD) instead.[5]

Declan Ganley visited[8][9] Poland on Friday 9 January 2009[10] to discuss terms for the formation of the Poland branch of Libertas with representatives from Forward Poland (NP), PSL Piast and Prawica Rzeczypospolitej (PR).[10] Ganley insisted that the Poland Libertas party used the word "Libertas" in the title but the party politicians were concerned that the non-Polish name would deter voters.[10] The name "Forward Poland - Libertas" (Naprzód Polsko – Libertas) was suggested as a compromise name[10] should NP decide to ally with Libertas.

On February 1, 2009,[11] Ganley spoke to the inaugural Warsaw meeting of the Referendum Committee (Komitetu Referendalnego), an organization advocating that referendums be held prior to treaty ratifications by Poland.[11][12] The speech was filmed and placed on YouTube (prolog, part 1, part 2). The meeting attendance was estimated at 700[12] or 500[11] and attendees included[11][13] Mirosław Orzechowski (LPR), Zdzisław Podkański (PSL), Krzysztof Filipek and Danuta Hojarska (once Samoobrona, now Party of Regions) and Antoni Tyszka (UPR), Konrad Bonisławski (head of All-Polish Youth) and Krzysztof Bosak (former LPR MP).

On February 2, 2009[6][11] a press conference was given[7] in which the head of the Referendum Committee, former LPR MP Daniel Pawłowiec, was named as head[1][2][7] of Libertas Poland (Libertas Polska, LP), and the Referendum Committee offices at Aleje Ujazdowskie 22/3, 00-478 Warsaw were named as the headquarters of Libertas Poland.[7]

Although the party had been announced, it did not exist under that name at that point: registering a political party in Poland is a lengthy process.[5] Instead, Pawlowiec's Lewica i Demokraci was renamed to Libertas Polska, the new name being registered on 24 February 2009[5]

On 11 February 2009, Libertas Poland held a press conference concerning the emergency meeting of the European Council.[14] In that press conference, Libertas Poland demanded that the Polish government should reduce VAT following the UK example,[14] propose an EU joint energy policy,[14] and reopen the labor markets of Germany and Austria to Polish workers.[14]

Libertas attempted to get other parties to affiliate (run candidates under a common list) to it. Libertas's search for affiliates was assisted by Roman Giertych[15] and Wojciech Wierzejski,[16] with Wierzejski resigning from the leadership of LPR to devote his time to the unification of the Polish patriotic, nationalist, conservative and Christian right under a Libertas list.[17]

On 20 March 2009, journalist Hanna Lis refused to do a TVP interview with Declan Ganley.[40] Controversy promptly arose revolving around LPR's Roman Giertych[40] and whether LPR were encouraging coverage of Libertas on TVP[40] via Piotr Farfał the President of TVP[41] and a member of LPR.[40] Hanna Lis,[42] Piotr Kraśko,[42] and Jarosław Kulczycki,[42] the three presenters of a nightly news program, took sick leave in protest, forcing the news to be presented by Marcin Szczepański.[42]

Libertas Poland started work on/before 20 March 2009 on collecting sufficient signatures to field candidates,[3][4] although the number and names of those candidates was not specified.[3][4] By 2 May 2008, a Libertas Election Committee (Komitet Wyborczy Libertas) had been formed and its list consisted of 130[31] candidates, later falling to 128.[22] The breakdown was as follows:[31]

• Jens-Peter Bonde
• Declan Ganley
• 2009 European Parliament election
• Treaty of Lisbon