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Europe of Freedom and Democracy is a Eurosceptic political group in the European Parliament. Formed after the European parliamentary election in 2009, it is mostly made up of elements of the now defunct Independence/Democracy and Union for a Europe of Nations groups from the out-going parliament.

The group is a coalition of ten political parties – the largest being the United Kingdom Independence Party with ten seats and the Italian Lega Nord, with nine seats – along with one independent.

History

Formation

Following the European Parliament election, 2009, Independence/Democracy (IND/DEM) and Union for a Europe of Nations (UEN), two political groups of the European Parliament, were in trouble. The United Kingdom Independence Party (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 Seventh 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 of Liberty. On 1 July 2009 a press conference was held launching the group. 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, and the Slovak National Party each uneasy about 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In March 2010 it was announced that MEP Nikki Sinclaire had had the UKIP whip withdrawn.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." In March 2011 MEP Trevor Colman left the EFD, allegedly due to an "unresolved dispute over financial and staffing issues." However both Coleman and Nattrass continue to represent UKIP as Non-Inscrits. On 24 May 2011, David Campbell Bannerman defected to the Conservatives, and the ECR.

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

It was joined by Frank Vanhecke in November 2011, after Vanhecke left Vlaams Belang. It was joined by Magdi Allam in December 2011, when Allam defected from the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats in the EPP group. The four MEPs from United Poland defected from the European Conservatives and Reformists on 26 December 2011, taking the group's numbers to 33. In March 2012 Roger Helmer who was elected as a UK Conservative Party MEP and previously sat with the European Conservatives and Reformists group, defected to UKIP and the EFD bringing the group's numbers to 34.

Membership by party

Europe of Freedom and Democracy has currently 34 elected members as follows:

Member state	Party	MEPs	Previous Group
Belgium	Frank Vanhecke (independent)	1	Non-Inscrits
Denmark	Danish People's Party	1	Union for Europe of the Nations
Finland	True Finns	1	n/a
France	Movement for France	1	Independence/Democracy
Greece	Popular Orthodox Rally	2	Independence/Democracy
Italy	Lega Nord	9	Union for Europe of the Nations
Italy	I Love Italy	1	European People's Party
Lithuania	Order and Justice	2	Union for Europe of the Nations
Netherlands	Reformed Political Party	1	Independence/Democracy
Slovakia	Slovak National Party	1	n/a
Poland	United Poland	4	European Conservatives and Reformists
United Kingdom	UK Independence Party	10	Independence/Democracy

References

1. ^ Willis, Andrew (1 July 2009). "New eurosceptic group to campaign against EU treaty in Irish referendum". EU Observer. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
2. ^ "UKIP forms new Eurosceptic group". British Broadcasting Corporation. 1 July 2009. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
3. ^ "Members". EDF Group. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
4. ^ Staab, Andreas (2011). The European Union Explained, Second Edition: Institutions, Actors, Global Impact (2 ed.). Indiana University Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-253-22303-6.
5. ^ Phillips, Leigh (30 June 2009). "Ukip, Lega Nord form hard-right bloc in EU Parliament". EU Observer. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
6. ^ Hinton-Beales, Desmond (5 March 2012). "Conservative MEP defects to UKIP". TheParliament.com. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
7. "Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, 7th parliamentary term - July 2009, Rule 30: Formation of political groups" 1 July 2009, from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
8. "Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, 16th edition - March 2009, Rule 29: Formation of political groups" 6 April 2009, from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
9. ^ "UE/ Lega Nord nel nuovo gruppo di destra euroscettica", 30 June 2009, from http://www.ilsussidiario.net/, English translation here
10. ^ "EU-kritisk grupp i EU", 30 June 2009, from http://www.nd.se/, English translation here
11. "EU-Critical Group in European Parliament launches", 1 July 2009, from http://indemgroup.eu
12. "EU-Rechtsaußen-Fraktion hat Vorbehalte gegen FPÖ". Der Standard. 3 July 2009. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
13. "FPÖ dürfte nicht in Rechtsaußenfraktion landen". Der Standard. 8 July 2009. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
14. "EFD-Fraktion: Veto gegen FPÖ-Aufnahme". Der Standard. 10 June 2011. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
15. ^ "Rebel Euro MP is expelled by UKIP". BBC News. 4 March 2010. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
16. http://www.neurope.eu/articles/101621.php
17. "Colman Quits EFD". EU Reported. 30 March 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
18. "Mike NATTRASS". European Parliament. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
19. "UKIP MEP Campbell Bannerman defects to Conservatives". BBC News. 24 May 2011.
20. http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/rosbach-leaves-danish-peoples-party-to-become-ecr-mep/
21. "Gewezen VB-voorzitter Vanhecke: "Stem op N-VA"". De Morgen. 16 November 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
22. Piras, Mara (15 December 2011). "Contrario alla libertà di coscienza sull'aborto, Magdi Allam esce dal PPE". Retrieved 19 December 2011.
23. As of June 2012, 12 MEPs belong to the United Kingdom Independence Party but two of these – Trevor Colman and Mike Nattrass – are no longer members of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy group.

External links

• Official website EFD Group in the European Parliament

• Current European Parliament party groups
• Euroscepticism