Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Europe has 'powerful enemies' in US, says French Europe minister

France's Europe minister, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, has said that Europe has enemies in Washington, suggesting that neo-conservatives played a significant role in the Irish rejection of the Lisbon treaty earlier this month.

French daily Le Monde reports Mr Jouyet as saying that "Europe has powerful enemies on the other side of the Atlantic, gifted with considerable financial means. The role of American neo-conservatives was very important in the victory of the No."

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Jean-Pierre Jouyet made the comments at a pro-Europe rally over the weekend (Photo: The Council of the European Union)

He made the comments at a pro-Europe meeting in Lyons over the weekend, just over a week after Irish voters rejected the EU's latest treaty by 53.4 to 46.6 percent.

Allegations that some funding for the No side came from across the Atlantic also came up during the Irish debate preceding the referendum.

Libertas, an anti-treaty organisation campaigning on a platform of cutting Brussels red-tape, was on the receiving end of such accusations earlier this month.

The Yes camp alleged it was being bankrolled by a US company, Rivada, which has links to the US military. Some key member of the Libertas campaign had been on Rivada's payroll.

Libertas chief Declan Ganley is also chief executive of Rivada, a telecommunications company. Mr Ganley has said that the company has only been involved in domestic rescue and disaster operations, and helping US military bodies such as the National Guard and the Coastguard.

The Yes camp has urged Libertas to make its donors and accounts public, saying it could not have raised its money so quickly with domestic donors only.

Opposition Fine Gael MP Lucinda Creighton said earlier this month: "The businesses of Ganley and [aviation millionaire Ulick] McEvaddy are heavily dependent on contracts from the State Department, the Pentagon and US government agencies. These men are a lot less concerned about Irish sovereignty than they are about the potential hit to their own personal business interests."

Absolute lunacy

But her comments were roundly dismissed by both Mr Ganley and Mr McEvaddy.

Mr Ganley was reported by Ireland's Sunday Independent on 1 June as saying it is a "little rich" that governing and opposition parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, "are trying to lecture us about raising money - their records aren't squeaky clean. They set the rules up and we are in total compliance with their rules. We have a huge number of business donors who want to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation."

Mr McEvaddy said Ms Creighton's comments were "rantings."

Meanwhile, responding to Mr Jouyet's comments, a Libertas spokesperson said they were "absolute lunacy."

"Our funding came from entirely within Ireland" he told EUobserver, suggesting that Mr Jouyet should take a "complaint of that nature" up with the Pentagon.

Libertas to date has not made its accounts public but the spokesperson said that as soon Ireland's Standards in Public Office Commission requests a copy it will make them available.

EU image remains high in Ireland

Meanwhile, as the EU continues to digest the implications of Ireland's no vote, its latest EU-wide opinion survey conducted between March and May of this year showed that Europe's image remains positive in Ireland.

A Eurobarometer poll published on Tuesday (24 June) put the country second only to Romania for respondents saying that the Union conjured up a positive image (65%).

In addition, 73 percent of Irish respondents said membership of the EU was "a good thing."

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told

Italian central banker Piero Cipollone in his first monetary policy speech since joining the ECB's board in November, said that the bank should be ready to "swiftly dial back our restrictive monetary policy stance."

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us