Europe of freedom and direct democracy

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Europe of freedom and direct democracy
Logo of the EFDD
Official abbreviation EFDD (English), ELDD (French)
Members
48/751
(2014)
42/751
(2019)
Group leader United KingdomUnited Kingdom Nigel Farage (2014-2019) David Borrelli (2014-2017)
ItalyItaly 
founding June 24, 2014 / October 20, 2014
predecessor Europe of freedom and democracy
resolution October 16, 2014 / July 1, 2019
Alignment EU skepticism , right-wing populism
European party Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE, dissolved in 2017)
Website efddgroup.eu

Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy ( EFDD or EFD 2 , French abbreviation ELDD ) was a parliamentary group in the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019. It comprised parties from the EU-skeptical and right-wing populist spectrum.

The group was founded after the 2014 European elections as the successor to the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group. It was dissolved on October 16, 2014 after it no longer met the requirements of a parliamentary group, and was re-established on October 20, 2014. After the European elections in 2019 , the group was no longer able to meet the requirements for group formation.

The EFDD was dominated by British UKIP MPs (meanwhile mostly Brexit Party ) and the Italian MoVimento 5 Stelle (M5S). The only German member was Jörg Meuthen ( AfD ). Group chairman was Nigel Farage ; David Borrelli (M5S) was co-chair until January 16, 2017 .

history

prehistory

After the European elections in 2009 , UKIP (previously IND / DEM group ) and Lega Nord (previously UEN group ) founded the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group . In this, the remnants of Ind / Dem and UEN, both of which could no longer exist independently, as well as other EU-skeptical parties elected to the European Parliament for the first time, gathered.

In the 2014 European elections , some of the previous EVS members were no longer able to move into parliament. In addition, the SGP , the Danish People's Party and the True Finns switched to the EKR faction; the Lega Nord announced that it wanted to form a new parliamentary group with the Front National and the FPÖ (see Europe of Nations and Freedom ).

Predecessor of the EFDD group
Electoral term Group name Strongest Party (s)
4th 1994-1996 Europe of Nations (coordination group) FranceFrance MPF
1996-1999 Independent for the Europe of Nations
5. 1999-2004 Europe of democracies and differences FranceFrance CPNT
6th 2004-2009 Independence / democracy United KingdomUnited KingdomUKIP, LPRPolandPoland
7th 2009-2014 Europe of freedom and democracy United KingdomUnited KingdomUKIP, Lega NordItalyItaly

Constitution

Thus, of the previous EFD parliamentary group, only UKIP, which had gained seats, and the Lithuanian TT. UKIP was able to win the Italian MoVimento 5 position with 17 MPs for the group. In addition, there were other smaller parties that had entered the European Parliament for the first time. Joëlle Bergeron , who was elected from the list of the French National Front, made it possible for the parliamentary group to continue. When it was constituted, the group had 48 members and adopted the new name “Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy”.

On September 30, 2014, the members of the parliamentary group, apart from the M5S, founded the European party Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE) and the Initiative for Direct Democracy in Europe as a party- affiliated foundation .

Dissolution and re-establishment

On October 16, 2014, the EFDD parliamentary group was dissolved after the resignation of Iveta Grigule ( LZS , Latvia) no longer met the requirement that members from at least seven member states must be in a parliamentary group. The parliamentary group was re-constituted on October 20 after Robert Iwaszkiewicz from the Polish congress Nowej Prawicy had declared his accession to the parliamentary group.

Exits and entries after the re-establishment in 2014

The Lithuanian Valentinas Mazuronis (TT) switched to the ALDE parliamentary group in March 2015.

UKIP members leaving

As in previous terms, UKIP lost several MPs during the term. In January 2015 Amjad Bashir was expelled from UKIP and subsequently moved to the EKR parliamentary group .

In March 2015 Janice Atkinson was excluded from UKIP. It resigned from the EFDD in June 2015 and enabled the formation of the Front-National- dominated Group Europe of Nations and Freedom .

UKIP MP Steven Woolfe resigned from UKIP and the parliamentary group in October 2016 after an argument with a UKIP colleague in the European Parliament. In November 2016, former UKIP chairwoman Diane James resigned . Jonathan Arnott left the party on January 19, 2018, justifying this with the party's shift to the right. But he remained in the parliamentary group. With James Carver , another UKIP member left the party and parliamentary group on May 27, 2018.

In autumn 2018, eleven UKIP MPs left the party, but remained in the group - among them the group chairman and UKIP co-founder Nigel Farage . The background to this was the party's shift to the right under the new chairman Gerard Batten , who - according to Bill Etheridge - had developed UKIP into a “platform for hatred against Muslims and against gays and lesbians”. Farage announced on December 4, 2018 that he was leaving the party after a motion of censure on his part against Batten had failed. Eventually Batten, and later Agnew and Collins, left the group and joined the ENF, as did Mike Hookem. In return, Diane James and James Carver rejoined the group. Farage and seven other MPs joined The Brexit Party to run for the European elections if Brexit is postponed or canceled.

Alternative for Germany

On April 8, 2016, the AfD MP Beatrix von Storch joined the EFDD. She previously belonged to the ECR group ; After statements about the use of firearms at the borders, the EKR parliamentary group leadership advised her party to leave the parliamentary group, otherwise a vote would be taken to expel AfD members. Storch justified the change of faction with an “irreparably damaged” relationship with the parliamentary group leadership, the wish to forestall an expulsion, and the importance of the “ British referendum [s] on remaining in the EU”. After the 2017 federal election, Storch moved to the Bundestag. Her successor, AfD party spokesman Jörg Meuthen , also joined the EFDD. He announced that he wanted to work within the EFDD on building a new parliamentary group after the 2019 European elections .

Failed change of faction of the M5S

In January 2017, Beppe Grillo, party leader of the M5S, declared that after the Brexit resolution, UKIP and M5S no longer had any common goals. In an online survey, 80% of the M5S members were in favor of the 17 M5S MPs moving to the liberal ALDE parliamentary group. Grillo and ALDE parliamentary group leader Guy Verhofstadt worked out a corresponding paper on the common goals of ALDE and M5S. However, the change failed due to the resistance of the majority of the ALDE MPs due to the Eurosceptic attitude of M5S. M5S stayed in the EFDD after Grillo accepted Nigel Farage's terms for it; Among other things, the co-group chairman David Borrelli (M5S), who was chief negotiator in the negotiations with Verhofstadt, had to give up his office on January 16, 2017. As a result, Marco Affronte - to the Greens / EFA group - and Marco Zanni - to the ENF group - two M5S members left the group.

On February 13, 2018, the former group leader David Borrelli left the group.

Former FN / RN MPs join

In addition to founding member Joëlle Bergeron, six other members of the EFDD joined the EFDD in 2017 and 2018, who were elected via the list of the Front National (FN). France is now the third largest group of countries after the United Kingdom and Italy.

On October 4, 2017 , three MPs transferred to the EFDD , led by former FN vice-president Florian Philippot . They founded the Les Patriotes party . They were followed on April 18, 2018 by Aymeric Chauprade , who also became deputy group chairman. On May 29, 2018, Bernard Monot joined, who also joined the Debout la France (DLF) party. Sophie Montel left Les Patriotes in July 2018 after accusing Philippot of forging signatures. In September 2018, she also left the parliamentary group.

On October 20, 2018, Sylvie Goddyn, another former member of the National Front, now renamed Rassemblement National , joined the EFDD from the ENF. She had previously declared support for the DLF's Les Amoureux de la France list and was expelled from the party.

Sweden Democrats

The two members of the Sweden Democrats joined the ECR group at the beginning of July 2018.

European elections 2019

In the 2019 European elections , the EFDD parties won 54 seats, twelve more than at the end of the electoral term. The Brexit Party achieved 29 seats (+15 compared to before the election), the five-star movement 14 seats (± 0) and the AfD 11 seats (+10). The remaining parties in the EFDD, however, were unable to win any mandates. The AfD also had to join the successor faction of the ENF before the election ( identity and democracy ). The EFDD therefore no longer meets the requirements of members from seven countries. The group chairman Farage announced, however, that he wanted to continue the group with new members.

Members

Members of the parliamentary group in the 2014 to 2019 electoral term:

country National party number MPs European party
At first Current
GermanyGermany Germany Alternative for Germany (AfD) - 01 Beatrix von Storch (April 8, 2016 to October 23, 2017), Jörg Meuthen (since November 8, 2017) ADDE (from 2016) *
FranceFrance France independent (elected for FN ) 01 01 Joëlle Bergeron ADDE *
Les Patriotes (elected for FN ) - 02 Mireille d'Ornano , Florian Philippot (both since October 4, 2017), Sophie Montel (October 4, 2017 to September 12, 2018, independent from July 6, 2018) -
Les Français Libres (chosen for FN ) - 01 Aymeric Chauprade (since April 18, 2018) -
Debout la France (elected for FN ) - 02 Bernard Monot (since May 29, 2018), Sylvie Goddyn (since October 20, 2018) -
ItalyItaly Italy MoVimento 5 digit (M5S) 17th 14th Isabella Adinolfi , Marco Affronte (until January 10, 2017), Laura Agea , Daniela Aiuto , Tiziana Beghin , David Borrelli (until February 12, 2018), Fabio Massimo Castaldo , Ignazio Corrao , Rosa D'Amato , Eleonora Evi , Laura Ferrara , Giulia Moi , Piernicola Pedicini , Dario Tamburrano , Marco Valli , Marco Zanni (until January 10, 2017), Marco Zullo -
LatviaLatvia Latvia Latvijas Zemnieku savienība (LZS) 01 - Iveta Grigule (until October 16, 2014) EUD *
LithuaniaLithuania Lithuania Šaukiu aš tautą (chosen for TT ) 02 01 Rolandas Paksas (TT until autumn 2018) ADDE *
Tvarka ir teisingumas (TT) - Valentinas Mazuronis (until May 18, 2015)
PolandPoland Poland Wolność (KORWiN, elected for KNP ) - 01 Robert Iwaszkiewicz (since October 20, 2014) ADDE * , AEMN (since 2017)
SwedenSweden Sweden Sweden Democrats (SD) 02 - Peter Lundgren , Kristina Winberg (both until July 2, 2018) ADDE *
Czech RepublicCzech Republic Czech Republic Strana svobodných občanů (SSO) 01 01 Petr Mach (until August 31, 2017), Jiří Payne (since September 5, 2017) ADDE *
United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom Brexit Party (elected for UKIP) - 014th Nigel Farage , Nathan Gill , Tim Aker , David Coburn , Julia Reid (all UKIP until December 2018), Jonathan Bullock (moved up to Helmer on August 1, 2017, UKIP until December 2018), Bill Etheridge (UKIP until October 2018, until February 2019 Libertarian Party , all from February 2019 Brexit Party), Paul Nuttall (UKIP until December 2018, Brexit Party from February 2019), Diane James (non-attached November 20, 2016 to December 12, 2018, UKIP until November 2016, Brexit from March 2019 Party), Ray Finch , Margot Parker , Jill Seymour (all UKIP until April 2019, then switch to the Brexit Party), Jonathan Arnott (UKIP until January 2018, then non-attached, Brexit Party from April 2019), Jane Collins (UKIP until April 2019 , January 2019 change to ENF, April 2019 change to Brexit Party and return to EFDD) ADDE (up to 20 members) * , EAF (two members since 2016) *
UK Independence Party (UKIP) 24 - Amjad Bashir (until January 22, 2015), Steven Woolfe (until October 23, 2016), Roger Helmer (until July 31, 2017, resigned), Gerard Batten (until December 7, 2018), Stuart Agnew (until January 15, 2019 ), Mike Hookem (until January 16, 2019)
non-party (elected for UKIP) - 03 William Dartmouth (UKIP until September 2018), Louise Bours (UKIP until November 2018), James Carver (28 May 2018 until 9 January 2019 non-attached, until May 2018 UKIP),
Janice Atkinson (excluded from UKIP in March 2015, until 14 January 2019) . June 2015 EFDD)
Social Democratic Party (elected for UKIP) - 01 Patrick O'Flynn (UKIP until November 2018)
total 48 42
* Disbanded in 2017

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy, Farage's new group in the EU Parliament. In: EurActiv.com , June 25, 2014.
  2. ^ Nicola Maggini: The electoral progress of the populist and Eurosceptic right. In: The European Parliament Elections of 2014. Centro Italiano Studi Elettorali (CISE), Rome 2014, ISBN 978-88-98012-15-2 , pp. 307 ff.
  3. ^ Nicholas Watt: David Cameron accused over 'dubious' European Union partners. In: TheGuardian.com , June 5, 2014.
  4. ↑ Alvise Armellini: Grillo MEPs to join Farage group after referendum. EUObserver, June 13, 2014.
  5. ↑ Who's going where? Tracking the musical chairs in the European Parliament. EuropeDecides.eu, June 2, 2014.
  6. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2875851/Ukip-fury-Farage-forms-EU-political-party-secure-1-5m-taxpayers-cash-Brussels.html
  7. ^ European parliamentary group with UKIP dissolved in EU Parliament. ORF.at, October 16, 2014.
  8. ↑ http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/de/124886/ROBERT+JAROSLAW_IWASZKIEWICZ_home.html
  9. ↑ http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/de/124768/VALENTINAS_MAZURONIS_history.html
  10. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/11367754/Ukip-MEP-Amjad-Bashir-defects-to-Conservative-Party.html
  11. ↑ https://de.nachrichten.yahoo.com/handgreiflichkeit- between- ukip-abteilungen-haben-juristisches-nachspiel- 084747344.html
  12. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-42745613
  13. ↑ a b https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/farage-ukip-austritt-101.html
  14. ↑ a b https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/news/movers-and-shakers-8-october-2018
  15. ↑ https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/uk-independence-party/nigel-farage/news/100404/ukip-boss-gerard-batten
  16. ↑ https://www.thelocal.fr/20190116/ukip-leader-joins-marine-le-pens-far-right-eu-group
  17. ↑ https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/brexit-news-latest-nigel-farage-claims-100000-people-have-signed-up-to-new-brexit-party-a4069066.html
  18. ↑ European Parliament: Group wants to get rid of AfD MPs . In: SPIEGEL ONLINE . SPIEGEL ONLINE GmbH, March 8, 2016 7:31 p.m., accessed and received on April 10, 2016 (German)
  19. ^ Matthias Kamann: AfD: Why Jörg Meuthen changes to the EU Parliament. In: welt.de . November 7, 2017, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  20. ↑ a b http://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2017-01/eu-parlament-fuenf-sterne-bewegung-liberale-fraktion
  21. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/09/five-star-movement-nigel-farage-meps-m5s-alde
  22. ↑ Five stars and many voltes. In: sueddeutsche.de. January 11, 2017, accessed April 21, 2018 .
  23. ↑ Beppe Grillo, the EU parliamentarians run away. In: DiePresse.com. January 12, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2018 .
  24. ↑ https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/news/movers-and-shakers-9-october-2017
  25. ↑ https://www.lejdd.fr/politique/florian-philippot-accuse-de-faux-en-ecriture-par-son-ex-lieuter-sophie-montel-3707486
  26. ↑ https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/news/movers-and-shakers-29-october-2018
  27. ↑ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/conservatives-sweden-democrats-european-parliament-far-right-reformist-group-a8430281.html
  28. ↑ https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1134154/Brexit-Party-news-Nigel-Farage-Matteo-Salvini-European-Parliament-latest-update
  29. ↑ https://news.sky.com/story/ex-ukip-leader-paul-nuttall-quits-party-over-tommy-robinson-role-11573773
  30. ↑ https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/news/movers-and-shakers-17-december-2018
  31. ↑ https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/news/movers-and-shakers-1-october-2018
  32. ↑ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tommy-robinson-ukip-patrick-oflynn-resigns-mep-sdp-gerard-batten-edl-islam-a8653816.html