©Copyright 2002 EUObserver.com
EUObserver.com

April 23, 2001

LENGTH: 565 words

HEADLINE: Eurosceptic website condemned as sinister

BYLINE: Blake Evans-Pritchard

ANCHORS: Lisbeth Kirk

HIGHLIGHT:
According to an article that appeared in the Telegraph last week, Sean Gabb, a British university lecturer in law and economics, is engaged in what the paper describes as a "sinister" campaign to intimidate company directors into stopping support for the pro-European movement.

Mr Gabb's website, "Candidlist", posts companies and politicians actively supporting the euro, the European Union superstate or the Nice Treaty and it urges people to boycott the companies and to communicate their anger.

BODY:
According to an article that appeared in the Telegraph last week, Sean Gabb, a British university lecturer in law and economics, is engaged in what the paper describes as a "sinister" campaign to intimidate company directors into stopping support for the pro-European movement.

Speaking to the EUobserver.com, Professor Gabb angrily refutes the allegations and accuses the Telegraph of unfairly trying to damage his reputation.

Details of 50 pro-euro companies and their senior executives have been posted on the website "candidlist", which was established in October 1999 by Mr Sean Gabb. The companies listed are active supporters of "the drive to destroy British self-government. Each one has contributed to the effort to create a European Union superstate. If you wish to keep the pound and save democracy, we urge you to boycott the products of these companies," states the website. It contiues, "should you wish to communicate your anger at the activities of these companies, you can find details of how to do so by clicking on the name of the relevant company. Please note that we provide the corporate addresses of directors and public affairs spokesmen, together with other useful information."

Among the companies on the list are Kellogg's, KPMG, Nestle, Xerox Ltd, Unilever, Sony, British Petroleum, Anderson Consulting, British Airways and Barclays Bank plc. Some of the companies are recorded as active members of the Association for the Monetary Union of Europe, others have supported Britain in Europe according to the annual report by giving more than GBP5,000 (cash and in-kind) in the financial year 1999-2000.

The site also includes a list of parliamentary candidates from all main parties, along with their European objectives, as well as a section on the Nice Treaty.

"The article in the Telegraph tried to wreck the Candidlist project," Professor Gabb told the EUobserver.com. "But it clearly failed. Five years ago, the article may have destroyed the project, but it simply drew attention to our website. After the Telegraph article was published, Candidlist had fifteen hundred hits in a single day. We also received numerous e-mails and telephone calls in support of what we were doing and confusion over what the Telegraph was saying."

Professor Gabb believes that the article in the Telegraph was a personal attack on him. "It's my own fault," admits the lecturer. "I made a big mistake when I began this campaign. I said publicly that I was considering publishing the private addresses of directors from companies who support the euro so that people could send them letters of protest directly. But I immediately changed my mind - what would happen if an anti-European protestor decide to take direct action on a director's home or family?" However, Professor Gabb's initial comments are still on the Internet for all to see, and he believes that it is these comments on which the Telegraph article was based. "They took something I had said and used it totally out of context," said Professor Gabb.

Candidlist is funded solely by Professor Gabb, who says that he has spent just GBP275 on the project. His website has enjoyed over 100,000 hits since its creation and he has received widespread coverage in the British press, making him something of a national celebrity. "Such is the power of the Internet," says Professor Gabb.