European Alliance for Freedom

Not to be confused with European Free Alliance.
European Alliance for Freedom
Founded 2010
Headquarters Birkirkara, Malta[1]
Youth wing Young European Alliance for Hope (YEAH)[2]
Ideology Souverainism
Right-wing populism
Euroscepticism
Nationalism
Political position Right-wing[3] to Far-right[4][5][6]
International affiliation None
European Parliament group Europe of Nations and Freedom
Colours      Blue
Political foundation European Foundation for Freedom
Website
www.eurallfree.org

The European Alliance for Freedom (EAF) is a pan-European political party of (radical)[7] right-wing eurosceptics. It was founded in late 2010, the party was recognised by the European Parliament in 2011.[8] Unlike in other pan-European parties, the members of the Alliance are not national parties but individuals.

The head office of the Alliance is in Brussels, Belgium, and its registered office is in Birkirkara, Malta. Franz Obermayr from Austria has been the president of the organisation since November 2012, succeeding founding chairman Godfrey Bloom. His vice presidents are the Belgian Philip Claeys and the French Marine Le Pen.[9] The secretary-general is Sharon Ellul-Bonici from Malta.[10]

The EAF was awarded a grant by European Parliament for 2011 of, at most, €372,753.[8] In 2012 the EP's maximal grant dropped to €360,455.[1] The party's affiliated political foundation is the European Foundation for Freedom.[11]

2014 European Parliament election

Ahead of the 2014 European Parliament election, it was suggested that EAF members might form a parliamentary group of their own after the elections. The group was reported to have the support of the French National Front (FN), the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), the Flemish Vlaams Belang (VB), the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), the Sweden Democrats (SD), the Slovak National Party and the Italian Lega Nord (LN). The Danish People's Party, UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the Alternative for Germany refused to join the new alliance, while the more radical and anti-Semitic European nationalist parties such as National Democratic Party of Germany, the British National Party, Greek Golden Dawn and Hungarian Jobbik were not permitted to.[12][13][14][15] Some media reports referred to the proposed group as the "Le Pen–Wilders alliance".[6][16][17][18] In the election, the French FN performed very strongly, winning 24 seats, while the Slovak National Party failed to win a seat and the Sweden Democrats abstained from the alliance (instead joining Europe of Freedom and Democracy), leaving the FN, PVV, LN, FPO and VB as the only EAF member parties.

On 28 May, three days after the end of the elections, Le Pen, Wilders, Matteo Salvini (LN), Harald Vilimsky (FPÖ) and Gerolf Annemans (VB) appeared at a press conference in Brussels, claiming to be confident to find enough allies for forming a new group soon.[19][20] News media reported about a competition between the proposed EAF group led by Le Pen and the existing Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group led by Nigel Farage of UKIP, both trying to win over support from newly-represented Eurosceptic, right-wing and populist parties from different countries. While the FN and Wilders preferred to form one large group, including UKIP, the British Eurosceptics decidedly rejected the idea, branding Le Pen's party as too extreme.[21][22][23] Eventually, with MEPs from only five different member states, the proposed EAF group fell short of the parliament's requirement of seven member states to be represented in each group. Instead, their MEPs have continued to sit as Non-Inscrits.[18][24][25]

Structure

President

Vice President

General Secretary

Party members

Current members

Country Leader (s) Party European MPs National MPs
 Malta Sharon Ellul-Bonici Independent/Labour Party
1 / 6
0 / 69
 Netherlands Geert Wilders[26] Party for Freedom
4 / 26
12 / 150

Former members

1 Morvai is associated with Jobbik while not being a formal member. She quit in July 2011, citing differences with the FPÖ.[31]
2 Paksas and Imbrasas later joined the Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (MELD)
3 Left to form Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom (MENL)

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 Grants from the European Parliament to political parties at European level 2004-2012 March 2012, European Parliament. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  2. ↑ Bell, Bethany (4 April 2014), Far-right youth movement seeks 'Europe of Fatherlands', BBC News — Inside Europe Blog
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Sablatnig (30 June 2011), "Straches FPÖ mit Jobbik und Vlaams Belang in EU-Partei", Tiroler Tageszeitung (in German), retrieved 29 November 2011
  4. ↑ Nathalie Brack; Olivier Costa (2014). How the EU Really Works. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-4724-1465-6.
  5. ↑ Waterfield, Bruno (23 October 2013), "France's FN to team up with other far Right parties for European elections", The Telegraph
  6. 1 2 de Lange, Sarah L.; Rooduijn, Matthijs; van Spanje, Joost (4 February 2014), "The 'Le Pen-Wilders' alliance will change European politics", Policy Network Observatory, policy-network.net
  7. ↑ Küchler, Teresa. "Marine Le Pen vill ena Europas högerextrema". svd.se.
  8. 1 2 "Grants from the European Parliament to political parties at European level 2004-2011" (PDF). European Parliament. April 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  9. ↑ FPÖ-Abgeordneter steht an Spitze von EU-Rechtspartei DiePresse
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 About EAF, European Alliance for Freedom, retrieved 7 July 2011 Archived 10 August 2011 at WebCite
  11. ↑ About EFF European Foundation for Freedom. Retrieved 30 November 2013
  12. ↑ Lahodynsky, Otmar (9 November 2013), "EU-Wahlen: Die nationalistische Internationale unter Führung der FPÖ", Profil Online (in German)
  13. ↑ Webb, Sara (13 November 2013), Le Pen, Wilders eye eurosceptic alliance for EU elections, Reuters
  14. ↑ Prodhan, Georgina (14 December 2013), Austria's Freedom aims to enlarge Eurosceptic bloc, Reuters
  15. ↑ http://www.columnist.org.uk/?p=7072&preview=true
  16. ↑ Mudde (11 February 2014), "The Le Pen-Wilders alliance and the European Parliament", The Washington Post
  17. ↑ Future of Le Pen-Wilders alliance still uncertain, EurActiv.com
  18. 1 2 "Le Pen and Wilders fail to form anti-EU bloc". BBC News. 24 June 2014.
  19. ↑ Charles Bremner (29 May 2014). "Le Pen party steals Farage's Italian allies". The Times.
  20. ↑ Kim Willsher; Lizzy Davies (28 May 2014). "Buoyant Le Pen seeks more allies for Eurosceptic group in Brussels". The Guardian.
  21. ↑ "Le Pen and Farage battle for partners to form group". Euractiv.com. 29 May 2014.
  22. ↑ Tony Cross (29 May 2014). "Ukip's Farage, Front National's Le Pen compete for Eurosceptic leadership … and EU cash". RFI English.
  23. ↑ Ophélie Spanneut (9 May 2014). "Le Pen and Farage competing to form groups" (PDF). Europolitics (4864). p. 12.
  24. ↑ Kim Willsher; Ian Traynor (24 June 2014), "Marine Le Pen fails to form far-right bloc in European parliament", The Guardian
  25. ↑ Umberto Bacchi (24 June 2014). "Le Pen's Far-Right EU Parliament Alliance Fails at Start". International Business Times.
  26. 1 2 3 4 "Press Conference: Aftermath of the elections, a future for the EU or a future for Europe?". European Alliance for Freedom. 28 May 2014.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mölzer wirkt in neuer EU-Rechtsaußenpartei mit", Der Standard (in German), 29 June 2011, retrieved 7 July 2011
  28. ↑ Protests at Austria far-right ball as Holocaust remembered, Euronews, 28 January 2012
  29. ↑ "Marine Le Pen: What she means for Europe", EuroNews, 21 February 2012
  30. ↑ Marine Le Pen en Autriche, Front National, 27 January 2012
  31. ↑ Krisztina Morvai is quitting the European Alliance for Freedom Party, Hungarian Ambiance, 26 July 2011
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