Europe of Freedom and Democracy European Parliament group
Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group logo
Name	Europe of Freedom and Democracy[1][2]
English abbr.	EFD[3]
French abbr.	ELD
Formal name	Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group[3]
Ideology	Euroscepticism[4], National Conservatism[4], Liberal Conservatism[5] Regionalism, Right-wing populism[4]
From	1 July 2009 (de facto)[6]
To	Present
Preceded by	Independence/Democracy, Union for a Europe of Nations
Succeeded by	N/A
Chaired by	Nigel Farage (United Kingdom Independence Party) and Francesco Speroni (Lega Nord)
MEP(s)	30[7] (1 July 2009[7]) 32[3] (14 July 2009[3])
Website	http://www.efdgroup.eu/

Europe of Freedom and Democracy is a right-wing Eurosceptic political group in the European Parliament. Formed after the European Parliamentary elections 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 colition of nine political parties of which the United Kingdom Independence Party and the Italian Lega Nord, which together hold some 22 of the group's 32 seats, are the biggest.

Contents 1 History 2 Membership by party at 14 July 2009 3 References 4 External Links

[edit] History

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.^[6] UEN had also lost MEPs and both groups had fallen under the threshold required for a group to exist.^[8][9] 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,^[6][10] or A Europe of Peoples for Liberty^[6][10], or a phrase involving the word Independence^[6] or Freedom^[11] or Democracy^[11] or People.^[6] In the absence of an official name, the nascent group was given the placeholder name of Liberty.^[6]

On 1 July 2009 a press conference was held launching the group.^[1][2][7] That press conference named the group Europe of Freedom and Democracy.^[1][2]

Andreas Mölzer, the leader of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) EP list, later announced that FPÖ and EFD were in negotiations over FPÖ joining the group, but each side had reservations about the other,^[12] with the Reformed Political Party, UKIP, and the far-right Slovak National Party each uneasy about FPÖ.^[13]

[edit] Membership by party at 14 July 2009

Europe of Freedom and Democracy had 32^[3] MEPs at 14 July 2009 at 09:00 CEST^[3] as follows:

Member state	Party	MEPs	Previous Group
Denmark	Dansk Folkeparti	2[3]	Union for Europe of the Nations
Finland	True Finns	1[3]	none
France	Mouvement pour la France	1[3]	Independence/Democracy
Greece	LAOS	2[3]	Independence/Democracy
Italy	Lega Nord	9[3]	Union for Europe of the Nations
Lithuania	Order and Justice	2[3]	Union for Europe of the Nations
Netherlands	Reformed Political Party	1[3]	Independence/Democracy
Slovakia	Slovak National Party	1[3]	none
United Kingdom	United Kingdom Independence Party	13[3]	Independence/Democracy

[edit] References

v • d • e Political groups of the European Parliament European People's Party (265) • Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (184) • Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (84) • The Greens–European Free Alliance (55) • European Conservatives and Reformists (54) • European United Left–Nordic Green Left (35) • Europe of Freedom and Democracy (32) • Non-Inscrits (27)   Previous Far-Right Nationalists European Right (1984–1989) • European Right (1989–1994) • Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty (2007) National Conservatives European Democratic Union (1965–1973) • European Progressive Democrats (1973–1984) • European Democratic Alliance (1984–1995) • Union for Europe (1995–1999) • Union for Europe of the Nations (1999–2009) Christian Democrats/Conservatives Christian Democrats (1953–1979) • European People's Party (1979–1999) • European Conservatives (1973–1979) • European Democrats (1979–1992) • Forza Europa (1994–1995) • European People's Party–European Democrats (1999–2009) Liberals/Centrists Liberals and Allies (1953–1976) • Liberals and Democrats (1976–1985) • Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group (1985–1994) • European Radical Alliance (1994–1999) • European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (1994–2004) Social Democrats Socialists (1953–1993) • Party of European Socialists (1993–2009) Communists/Far-Left Communists and Allies (1973–1989) • European United Left (1989–1993) • Left Unity (1989–1994) • European United Left (1994–1995) Greens/Regionalists Rainbow Group (1984–1989) • Rainbow Group (1989–1994) • Greens (1989–1999) Eurosceptics Europe of Nations (1994–1996) • Independents for a Europe of Nations (1996–1999) • Europe of Democracies and Diversities (1999–2004) • Independence/Democracy (2004–2009) Heterogeneous Technical Group of Independents (1979–1984) • Technical Group of Independents (1999–2001)

[edit] External Links

• Official website EFD Group in the European Parliament