Speculation regarding the new group surfaced on 30 June 2009. The name of the group was originally speculated as A Europe of Free Peoples,[10][22] or A Europe of Peoples for Liberty,[10][22] or a phrase involving the word Independence[10] or Freedom[23] or Democracy[23] or People.[10] In the absence of an official name, the nascent group was given the placeholder name of Liberty.[10] On 1 July 2009 a press conference was held launching the group.[1][2][24] That press conference named the group Europe of Freedom and Democracy.[1][2]
Andreas Mölzer, the leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) European Parliament list, announced in July 2009 that FPÖ and EFD were in negotiations over FPÖ joining the group; each side had reservations about the other,[25] with UKIP, the Reformed Political Party (SGP) of the Netherlands, and the Slovak National Party (SNS) each uneasy about the inclusion of the FPÖ.[26] In June 2011, the FPÖ tried again to have its two MEPs join the faction, but was again denied, being opposed by five or six of the nine parties in the EFD.[27] EFD was positioned by scholars as a right-wing[28][29][16] and far-right.[11][12][13][14]
Defections
In March 2010 it was announced that MEP Nikki Sinclaire had had the UKIP whip withdrawn.[30] Sinclaire had refused to join the EFD on the grounds that it was a grouping with "extreme views" and consequently had not sat with her UKIP colleagues in the European parliament.[30] In June 2010 MEP Mike Nattrass also left the EFD, albeit on other grounds than Sinclaire, stating that "I don't share the same principles of some of the Group, on balance, the majority of the Group want to stay in the EU and I've always believed that we should leave." Nattrass later rejoined the group in December 2012.[31] In March 2011 MEP Trevor Colman left the EFD, allegedly due to an "unresolved dispute over financial and staffing issues." However Colman continued to represent UKIP as a Non-Attached MEP.[32][33] On 24 May 2011, British MEP David Campbell Bannerman defected to the Conservative Party, and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group.[34]
In March 2011, Danish MEP Anna Rosbach left the EFD, and in turn joined the ECR group as an independent.[35]
The EFD was joined by Belgian MEP Frank Vanhecke in November 2011, after Vanhecke left Flemish Interest (VB).[36] It was joined by Magdi Allam in December 2011, when Allam defected from the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats (UDC) in the EPP group.[37] The four MEPs from United Poland defected from the ECR group on 26 December 2011, taking the group's numbers to 33. In March 2012 Roger Helmer who was elected as a British Conservative Party MEP and previously sat with the ECR group, defected to UKIP and the EFD, raising the group's numbers to 34.[38]
^Paul T. Levin (2011). "Appendix". Turkey and the European Union: Christian and Secular Images of Islam. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 205. ISBN978-0-230-11957-4.
^Gilles Ivaldi (2011), "The Populist Radical Right in European Elections 1979–2009", The Extreme Right in Europe: Current Trends and Perspectives, Vandenhoeck & Ruprect, p. 19
^Thomas Jansen; Steven Van Hecke (2011), At Europe's Service: The Origins and Evolution of the European People's Party, Springer, p. 229
