Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) was a

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...

political group in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...

. The group was formed following the 2009 European parliamentary election, mostly composed of elements of the

Independence/Democracy Independence/Democracy (IND/DEM) was a Eurosceptic political group active during the 2004–2009 term of the European Parliament. The group was the successor to the Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD) group. The group collapsed foll ...

(IND/DEM) and

Union for a Europe of Nations Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) was a national–conservative, Eurosceptic political group of the European Parliament active between 1999 and 2009. History UEN was formed on 20 July 1999 for the 5th European Parliament, supplanting the e ...

(UEN) groups that had existed during the

6th European Parliament The sixth European Parliament was the sixth five-year term of the elected European Parliament. It began on Tuesday 20 July 2004 in Strasbourg following the 2004 elections and ended after the 2009 elections. Major events * 10–13 June 2004 ** ...

. The group had a loose relationship with Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (MELD), a European political party founded in 2011. The EFD was a coalition of ten political parties – the largest being the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

(UKIP) with eleven seats and the Italian

Lega Nord Lega Nord (; acronym: LN), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing, federalist, populist and conservative political party in Italy. In the run-up of the 2018 general election, the party was rebranded as (), without changing its offici ...

, with nine seats – along with one independent. The EFD is hostile to further

European integration European integration is the process of industrial, economic, political, legal, social, and cultural integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integration has primarily come about through the European Union and its ...

, and more nationalistic and

anti-immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, has become a significant political ideology in many countries. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory ...

than its main predecessor IND/DEM. The EFD was considered to belong on the

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

of the political spectrum. On 24 June 2014 EFD group became

Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD or EFD²) was a Eurosceptic and populist political group in the European Parliament. The EFDD group was a continuation for the Eighth European Parliament of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD ...

(EFDD) for the

8th European Parliament The eighth European Parliament was elected in the 2014 elections and lasted until the 2019 elections. Major events * 22–25 May 2014 ** Elections to the Eighth Parliament. * 1 July 2014 ** First meeting (constitutive session) of the Eighth Pa ...

, with the continuing membership of just two of the eleven political parties that formed EFD.

History

Formation

Following the 2009 European parliament elections, the

(IND/DEM) and

(UEN), two

political groups of the European Parliament The political groups of the European Parliament are the officially recognised political groups consisting of legislators of aligned ideologies in the European Parliament. The European Parliament is unique among supranational assemblies in th ...

, were in trouble. The

(UKIP) component of IND/DEM had done well, but the other parties of this group fared very poorly. UEN had also lost MEPs and both groups had fallen under the threshold required for a group to exist. The remnants of both groups needed to find a new group before the constitutive session of the 7th European Parliament on 14 July 2009. Speculation regarding the new group surfaced on 30 June 2009. The name of the group was originally speculated as ''A Europe of Free Peoples'', or ''A Europe of Peoples for Liberty'', or a phrase involving the word ''Independence'' or ''Freedom'' or ''Democracy'' or ''People''. In the absence of an official name, the nascent group was given the

placeholder name Placeholder names are words that can refer to things or people whose names do not exist, are temporarily forgotten, are not relevant to the salient point at hand, are to avoid stigmatization, are unknowable/unpredictable in the context in wh ...

of ''Liberty''. On 1 July 2009 a press conference was held launching the group."EU-Critical Group in European Parliament launches"
, 1 July 2009, fro
http://indemgroup.eu
That press conference named the group ''Europe of Freedom and Democracy''. Andreas Mölzer, the leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) European Parliament list, announced in July 2009 that FPÖ and EFD were in negotiations over FPÖ joining the group; each side had reservations about the other, with UKIP, the

Reformed Political Party The Reformed Political Party ( nl, Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, SGP) is a conservative CalvinistThese sources describe the SGP as a Calvinist political party: * * * * * political party in the Netherlands. The term ''Reformed'' is not a refere ...

(SGP) of the Netherlands, and the Slovak National Party (SNS) each uneasy about the inclusion of the FPÖ. In June 2011, the FPÖ tried again to have its two MEPs join the faction, but was again denied, being opposed by five or six of the nine parties in the EFD.

Defections

In March 2010 it was announced that MEP Nikki Sinclaire had had the UKIP whip withdrawn. Sinclaire had refused to join the EFD on the grounds that it was a grouping with "extreme views" and consequently had not sat with her UKIP colleagues in the European parliament. In June 2010 MEP Mike Nattrass also left the EFD, albeit on other grounds than Sinclaire, stating that "I don't share the same principles of some of the Group, on balance, the majority of the Group want to stay in the EU and I've always believed that we should leave." Nattrass later rejoined the group in December 2012. In March 2011 MEP

Trevor Colman Bernard Trevor Colman (27 August 1941 – 22 March 2022) was a former UK Independence Party politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England. He represented the 2nd seat in the constituency. Biography He w ...

left the EFD, allegedly due to an "unresolved dispute over financial and staffing issues." However Colman continued to represent UKIP as a Non-Attached MEP. On 24 May 2011, British MEP David Campbell Bannerman defected to the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, and the

European Conservatives and Reformists The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is a soft Eurosceptic, anti- federalist political group of the European Parliament. The ECR is the parliamentary group of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party) European ...

(ECR) group. In March 2011, Danish MEP Anna Rosbach left the EFD, and in turn joined the ECR group as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

. The EFD was joined by Belgian MEP Frank Vanhecke in November 2011, after Vanhecke left

Flemish Interest , ideology = , predecessor = Vlaams Blok , position = , europarl = Identity and Democracy , european = Identity and Democracy Party , youth_wing = Vlaams Belang Jongeren , colours = , ...

(VB). It was joined by Magdi Allam in December 2011, when Allam defected from the

Union of Christian and Centre Democrats The Union of the Centre ( it, Unione di Centro, UdC), whose complete name is "Union of Christian and Centre Democrats" (''Unione dei Democratici Cristiani e Democratici di Centro'', UDC), is a Christian-democratic political party in Italy. Lore ...

(UDC) in the EPP group. The four MEPs from United Poland defected from the ECR group on 26 December 2011, taking the group's numbers to 33. In March 2012

Roger Helmer Roger Helmer (born 25 January 1944) is a British politician and businessman. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands region from 1999 to 2017. Before becoming an MEP, he was a business executive. Helmer was elect ...

who was elected as a British Conservative Party MEP and previously sat with the ECR group, defected to UKIP and the EFD, raising the group's numbers to 34. In late 2012, Slavcho Binev MEP of People for Real, Open and United Democracy (PROUD) joined the group. In February 2013 Marta Andreasen announced she was leaving UKIP and defected to the Conservative Party. In late September 2013,

National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria The National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria ( bg, Национален фронт за спасение на България, Natsionalen front za spasenie na Bŭlgariya, NFSB), is an ultranationalist political party in Bulgaria. History T ...

(NSFB) joined the group.

Reformation for 8th European Parliament

Composition

Europe of Freedom and Democracy MEPs map

Europe of Freedom and Democracy had 34 elected members between 2009 and 2014, they are as follows:

Leadership

*Co-president: Nigel Farage (2009–2014) *Co-president: Francesco Speroni (2009–2014)

References

External links

Official website of the EFD Group in the European Parliament
{{DEFAULTSORT:Europe of Freedom And Democracy Former European Parliament party groups Euroscepticism Far-right politics in Europe