UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP says the Irish anti-Lisbon treaty campaign group Libertas poses a threat to the Conservatives at the European election in June 2009.
Libertas leader Declan Ganley has announced that his Libertas party will contest the election in the UK and other EU states as well as Ireland.
The announcement came on the same day as the Irish government said it was prepared in principle to hold a second referendum on the constitutional treaty, rejected by voters last June, after receiving guarantees from Brussels.
Mr Farage said: "I'm a little surprised that Libertas want to stand in the UK its policy seems almost the same as David Cameron's Conservatives.
"Libertas just wants some change and reform within the EU. I cannot see, given that UKIP is committed to the UK being an independent country, that we have anything in common at all."
Mr Farage says UKIP knows that reform from within the EU is impossible and that the only course for the UK is to leave the political union and negotiate a free trade agreement.
“Libertas as I understand it, would be campaigning for staying inside the EU and negotiating from that position of weakness. This is completely different to our long-held position, which is that we must withdraw from the EU. That will be the position of strength from which we can decide our own way.”
He added: “Remember this – no one listened to the Dutch about the constitution, no one listened to the French. No one is listening to the Irish now over the Lisbon Treaty. Anyone trying to reform from within will simply be ignored again, which is why we have to leave: only then will they pay attention.”
Mr Farage said UKIP was the only party offering the UK a real choice on Europe to take the place of the referendum promised but never delivered by the Labour government.
Source UKIP
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