European Alliance for Freedom explained

European Alliance for Freedom
Leader1 Title:President
Leader1 Name:Franz Obermayr
Leader2 Title:Vice President
Leader2 Name:Philip Claeys

Marine Le Pen
Leader3 Title:General Secretary
Leader3 Name:Sharon Ellul-Bonici
Foundation:2010
Dissolution:2016
Headquarters:Birkirkara, Malta
Youth Wing:Young European Alliance for Hope (YEAH)
Ideology:Souverainism
Right-wing populism
Euroscepticism
Nationalism
Position:Right-wing to far-right[1]
International:None
Europarl:Europe of Nations and Freedom
Think Tank:European Foundation for Freedom
Colours: Blue
Country:European Union

The European Alliance for Freedom (EAF) was a pan-European political party of right-wing Eurosceptics. It was founded in late 2010, the party was recognised by the European Parliament in 2011.[2] It did not seek registration as a political party with the new Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations in 2016 and was dissolved in the following.

Unlike most other pan-European parties, the members of the Alliance were not national parties but individuals.The head office of the Alliance was in Brussels, Belgium, and its registered office was in Birkirkara, Malta. Franz Obermayr from Austria has been the president of the organisation since November 2012, succeeding founding chairman Godfrey Bloom from the United Kingdom. His vice presidents are the Belgian Philip Claeys and the French Marine Le Pen.[3] The secretary-general is Sharon Ellul-Bonici from Malta.

The EAF was awarded a grant by European Parliament for 2011 of, at most, €372,753.[2] In 2012 the EP's maximal grant dropped to €360,455.[4] The party's affiliated political foundation is the European Foundation for Freedom.[5]

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 (FPÖ), the Sweden Democrats (SD), the Slovak National Party and the Italian Northern League (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.[6] Some media reports referred to the proposed group as the "Le PenWilders alliance". 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, FPÖ 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.[7] [8] 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.[9] [10] [11] 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.[12] [13]

Structure

President

Vice president

General Secretary

Former members

Former members of the European Parliament

Former board members and other members

1 Morvai is associated with Jobbik while not being a formal member. She quit in July 2011, citing differences with the FPÖ.[23]
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)

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Nathalie Brack. Olivier Costa. How the EU Really Works. 2014. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. 978-1-4724-1465-6. 120.
  2. Web site: Grants from the European Parliament to political parties at European level 2004-2011. April 2011. European Parliament. 18 October 2011.
  3. http://diepresse.com/home/politik/eu/1310492/FPOeAbgeordneter-steht-an-Spitze-von-EURechtspartei?_vl_backlink=/home/politik/eu/index.do FPÖ-Abgeordneter steht an Spitze von EU-Rechtspartei
  4. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/grants/grant_amounts_parties_01-03-2012.pdf Grants from the European Parliament to political parties at European level 2004-2012
  5. http://www.eurfreedom.org/content/about-eff About EFF
  6. Web site: The Anti Islamist Danish People's Party has surged above 20% | the Columnist . 2014-02-02 . dead . https://archive.today/20140202104555/http://www.columnist.org.uk/?p=7072&preview=true . 2 February 2014 .
  7. News: Le Pen party steals Farage's Italian allies . Charles Bremner . The Times . 29 May 2014.
  8. News: Kim Willsher . Lizzy Davies . Buoyant Le Pen seeks more allies for Eurosceptic group in Brussels . The Guardian . 28 May 2014 .
  9. News: Le Pen and Farage battle for partners to form group . Euractiv.com . 29 May 2014.
  10. News: Tony Cross . Ukip's Farage, Front National's Le Pen compete for Eurosceptic leadership … and EU cash . RFI English . 29 May 2014.
  11. News: Ophélie Spanneut . Le Pen and Farage competing to form groups . Europolitics . 9 May 2014 . 4864 . 12 .
  12. News: Le Pen and Wilders fail to form anti-EU bloc . BBC News. 24 June 2014 .
  13. News: Le Pen's Far-Right EU Parliament Alliance Fails at Start . 24 June 2014 . International Business Times . Umberto Bacchi.
  14. "FPÖ MP is now the head of a EU legal party", Die Presse. (8 November 2012)
  15. Web site: Die Flüchtlings -katastrophe auf dem Mittelmeer löst in Europa tiefe Erschütterung aus European Alliance for Freedom. eurallfree.org. 2017-12-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20171222105220/http://www.eurallfree.org/?q=node%2F1953. 22 December 2017. dead.
  16. Web site: Press Conference: Aftermath of the elections, a future for the EU or a future for Europe? . European Alliance for Freedom . 28 May 2014 . 12 August 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150812064727/http://eurallfree.org/?q=node%2F1574 . 12 August 2015 . dead .
  17. https://www.thelocal.fr/20180407/frances-jean-marie-le-pen-joins-european-far-right-alliance France's Jean-Marie Le Pen joins European far-right alliance
  18. http://www.frontnational.com/2012/01/marine-le-pen-en-autriche/ Marine Le Pen en Autriche
  19. Web site: Archived copy . europarl.europa.eu . 15 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180106221007/https://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/grants/parties/EAF_2015.pdf . 6 January 2018 . dead.
  20. Web site: list of representatives of European Political Parties – a Freedom of Information request to European Parliament. 31 January 2017. 24 April 2018.
  21. Web site: list of representatives of European Political Parties – a Freedom of Information request to European Parliament. 31 January 2017. 24 April 2018.
  22. https://web.archive.org/web/20120326175304/http://www.eurallfree.org/?q=node/65 About EAF
  23. http://www.hungarianambiance.com/2011/07/krisztina-morvai-is-quitting-european.html Krisztina Morvai is quitting the European Alliance for Freedom Party