Brussels, 23/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament is calling for “total clarity” on the funding of the “Libertas” group, which played a key role in the campaign against the Lisbon Treaty in Ireland. During the opening of the EP's plenary session on Monday afternoon in Brussels, EP president, Hans-Gert Pöttering said: “We require total transparency. We need to know how much money Libertas had and where it came from”. Pöttering believes that at least €200,000 was given to the group by its leader, millionaire Declan Ganley, who has very lucrative military procurement contracts with the Pentagon, which Pöttering believes are worth $200 million. “I ask Dick Roche, the Irish Europe minister, to make sure he carries out a full and thorough investigation so that we can have full transparency”. The co-president of the Greens group at the EP, Daniel Cohn-Bendit is also concerned and stated: “If it is proved that there are grounds to this information, it will clearly indicate the existence of forces in the US that are financing people opposed to the development of a strong and autonomous Europe. If this can happen during the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, nothing would suggest that it couldn't happen again during the forthcoming European elections”. (HB./transl.rh)