Europe of Freedom and Democracy

Europe of Freedom and Democracy
European parliamentary group
Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group logo
Name	Europe of Freedom and Democracy
English abbr.	EFD
French abbr.	ELD
Formal name	Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group
Ideology	Euroscepticism National conservatism Right-wing populism
European parties	Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy
From	1 July 2009 (de facto)
To	24 June 2014
Preceded by	Independence/Democracy
Succeeded by	Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy
Chaired by	Nigel Farage (UKIP) Francesco Speroni (LN)
MEP(s)	34
Website	http://www.efdgroup.eu/

Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) was a right-wing Eurosceptic political group in the European Parliament. The group was formed following the 2009 European parliamentary election, mostly composed of elements of the Independence/Democracy (IND/DEM) and Union for a Europe of Nations (UEN) groups that had existed during the 6th European Parliament. The group had a loose relationship with Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (MELD), a European political party founded in 2011.

The EFD was a coalition of ten political parties – the largest being the UK Independence Party (UKIP) with eleven seats and the Italian Lega Nord, with nine seats – along with one independent. The EFD is hostile to further European integration, and more nationalistic and anti-immigration than its main predecessor IND/DEM. The EFD was considered to belong on the right-wing to far-right of the political spectrum.

On 24 June 2014 EFD group became Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) for the 8th European Parliament, with the continuing membership of just two of the eleven political parties that formed EFD.