Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) was a

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

,Far-right MEPs form group in European Parliament
euractiv.comRoy H. Ginsberg, ''Demystifying the European Union: The Enduring Logic of Regional Integration'', p. 170,

Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an American independent academic publishing company founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns ...

, 2010, Rob Ford, Matthew J. Goodwin, ''Voting for Extremists'', passim,

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research and Dovepress. It i ...

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 A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...

that operated in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

from 2009 to 2014. It was composed of 34

MEPs A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Comm ...

and it existed during the European Parliament's 7th and

8th Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an interval b ...

terms. After 2011, EFD had a loose relationship with the

Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy The Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (), abbreviated to MELD, was a national conservatism, national-conservative European political party founded in 2011, composed of parties belonging to the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) ...

political party. Ideologically, EFD was strongly opposed to European integration,

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

, and

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establishm ...

. Its members included parties such as 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 (both through defect ...

and

Lega Nord Lega Nord (LN; ), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing politics, right-wing, federalism, federalist, populism, populist and conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. In the run-up to the 201 ...

. Founded as a merger of the Independence/Democracy (IND/DEM) and Union for Europe of the Nations after the

2009 European Parliament election The 2009 European Parliament election was held in the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Member of the European Parliament, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent s ...

, EFD was more nationalistic and strongly opposed to immigration than its main predecessor, IND/DEM. In the aftermath of the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 22 and 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties field ...

, EFD became the

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) group, though only two EFD parties continued their membership in the EFDD.

History

Formation

Following the

s, the Independence/Democracy (IND/DEM) and

Union for a Europe of Nations Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) was a national-conservative, Eurosceptic political group that operated in the European Parliament between 1999 and 2009. At its height in February 2008, it had 44 MEPs. UEN was affiliated with the Alliance ...

(UEN), two

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

, 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 intentionally overly generic and ambiguous terms referring to things, places, or people, the names of which or of whom do not actually exist; are temporarily forgotten, or are unimportant; or in order to avoid stigmat ...

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 The Freedom Party of Austria (, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, and Eurosceptic. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five part ...

(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 ( , SGP) is a conservative Reformed ChristianThese sources describe the SGP as a Calvinist (Reformed Christian) political party: * * * * political party in the Netherlands. The SGP is the oldest political party in the ...

(SGP) of the Netherlands, and the

Slovak National Party The Slovak National Party (, SNS) is an ultranationalist political party in Slovakia. The party characterizes itself as a nationalist party based on both social and European Christian values. Since 1990 SNS has won seats in every Slovak pa ...

(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. EFD was positioned by scholars as a

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

and

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 Michael Henry Nattrass (born 14 December 1945) is a British politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands constituency, from 2004 to 2014. He was elected as a candidate for the UK Independence Party ...

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 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, and the

European Conservatives and Reformists European Conservatives and Reformists may refer to: *European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party), a soft Eurosceptic European political party *European Conservatives and Reformists Group The European Conservatives and Reformists ...

(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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. The EFD was joined by Belgian MEP Frank Vanhecke in November 2011, after Vanhecke left Flemish Interest (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 (, 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. Lorenzo Cesa is the part ...

(UDC) in the EPP group. The four MEPs from

United Poland Sovereign Poland (, SP), also known as United Poland (; alternatively translated to Solidarity Poland), until 2023, was a Catholic-nationalist political party in Poland led by Zbigniew Ziobro. It was founded in 2012, as the Catholic-nationalis ...

defected from the ECR group on 26 December 2011, taking the group's numbers to 33. In March 2012 Roger Helmer 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 (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 Nigel Paul Farage ( ; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician and broadcaster who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton (UK Parliament constituency), Clacton and Leader of Reform UK since 20 ...

(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 2009 establishments in the European Union 2014 disestablishments in the European Union Anti-immigration politics Conservative parties in Europe Eurosceptic parties Far-right political parties Former European Parliament party groups National conservative parties Nationalist parties in Europe Political parties disestablished in 2014 Political parties established in 2009 Right-wing populist parties