European Alliance for Freedom
 | This article needs to be updated. (February 2015) |
European Alliance for Freedom | |
|---|---|
| President | Franz Obermayr |
| Vice President | Philip Claeys; Marine Le Pen |
| General Secretary | Sharon Ellul-Bonici |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Dissolved | 2016 |
| Headquarters | Birkirkara, Malta[1] |
| Think tank | European Foundation for Freedom |
| 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] |
| European Parliament group | Europe of Nations and Freedom |
| International affiliation | None |
| Colours | Blue |
| Website | |
| www | |
The European Alliance for Freedom (EAF) was a right-wing and Eurosceptic European political party founded 2010 and recognised by the European Parliament in 2011.[7] In 2016, it did not seek registration as a European party with the new Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations and was dissolved.
Unlike in most 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, was the president of the organisation starting in November 2012, succeeding founding chairman Godfrey Bloom from the United Kingdom. His vice-presidents were the Belgian Philip Claeys and the French Marine Le Pen.[8] The secretary-general was Sharon Ellul-Bonici from Malta.[9]
The EAF was awarded a grant by European Parliament for 2011 of, at most, €372,753.[7] In 2012 the EP's maximal grant dropped to €360,455.[1] The party's affiliated European political foundation was the European Foundation for Freedom.[10]
2014 European Parliament election
[edit]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.[11][12][13][14] Some media reports referred to the proposed group as the "Le Pen–Wilders alliance".[6][15][16][17] 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.[18][19] 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.[20][21][22] 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.[17][23][24]
Structure
[edit]President
[edit]- 2010–2012 – Godfrey Bloom (UK)[9]
- 2012–present – Franz Obermayr (Austria)[25]
Vice president
[edit]- 2010–present – Philip Claeys (Belgium);[9] Marine Le Pen (France)
General Secretary
[edit]- 2010–present – Sharon Ellul-Bonici (Malta)
Former members
[edit]Former members of the European Parliament
[edit]
Austria – Georg Mayer (FPÖ)3,[26]- Austria – Andreas Mölzer (FPÖ),[27]
- Austria – Harald Vilimsky, (FPÖ)[28]
Belgium – Gerolf Annemans (MEP)[28] (Vlaams Belang)
Bulgaria – Dimitar Stoyanov (MEP, NDP, formerly Attack)[29]
France – Jean-Marie Le Pen (National Front)[30]- France – Marine Le Pen[31][32][33] (National Front)3
Poland – Janusz Korwin-Mikke (MEP)[29]- Poland – Robert Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (MEP)[29]
- Poland – Michał Marusik (MEP)[29]
- Poland – Stanisław Żółtek (MEP)[29]
United Kingdom – Godfrey Bloom (MEP, Independent, formerly UKIP)- United Kingdom – Jane Collins (MEP, UKIP)[34]
- United Kingdom – Mike Hookem (MEP, UKIP)[34]
Former board members and other members
[edit]
Czech Republic – Martin Lank (Dawn – National Coalition)[35]
Germany – Torsten Groß[36] (Citizens in Rage)[27]- Germany – Jan Timke (Citizens in Rage)[29][35]
Hungary – Krisztina Morvai[27] (Independent, associated with Jobbik)[37]
Latvia – Serzants Karlis (Union of Greens and Farmers, Member of Saeima)[35]
Lithuania – Rolandas Paksas,[27] Juozas Imbrasas (Order and Justice)2
Malta – Anthony Agius Decelis (Labour Party (Malta))[35]- Malta – Sharon Ellul-Bonici
- Poland – Przemysław Wipler[29]
Sweden – Kent Ekeroth[36] (Sweden Democrats)[27]
1 Morvai is associated with Jobbik while not being a formal member. She quit in July 2011, citing differences with the FPÖ.[37]
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)
See also
[edit]- European political party
- Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations
- European political foundation
References
[edit]- ^ a b Grants from the European Parliament to political parties at European level 2004-2012 March 2012, European Parliament. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
- ^ Bell, Bethany (4 April 2014), Far-right youth movement seeks 'Europe of Fatherlands', BBC News – Inside Europe Blog
- ^ Wolfgang Sablatnig (30 June 2011), "Straches FPÖ mit Jobbik und Vlaams Belang in EU-Partei", Tiroler Tageszeitung (in German), retrieved 29 November 2011
- ^ Nathalie Brack; Olivier Costa (2014). How the EU Really Works. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-4724-1465-6.
- ^ Waterfield, Bruno (23 October 2013), "France's FN to team up with other far Right parties for European elections", The Daily Telegraph
- ^ a b 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
- ^ a b "Grants from the European Parliament to political parties at European level 2004-2011" (PDF). European Parliament. April 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
- ^ FPÖ-Abgeordneter steht an Spitze von EU-Rechtspartei DiePresse
- ^ a b c About EAF, European Alliance for Freedom, archived from the original on 26 March 2012, retrieved 7 July 2011
- ^ About EFF Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine European Foundation for Freedom. Retrieved 30 November 2013
- ^ Lahodynsky, Otmar (9 November 2013), "EU-Wahlen: Die nationalistische Internationale unter Führung der FPÖ", Profil Online (in German), archived from the original on 25 December 2013, retrieved 24 December 2013
- ^ Webb, Sara (13 November 2013), "Le Pen, Wilders eye eurosceptic alliance for EU elections", Reuters
- ^ Prodhan, Georgina (14 December 2013), "Austria's Freedom aims to enlarge Eurosceptic bloc", Reuters
- ^ "The Anti Islamist Danish People's Party has surged above 20% | the Columnist". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ^ Mudde (11 February 2014), "The Le Pen-Wilders alliance and the European Parliament", The Washington Post
- ^ Future of Le Pen-Wilders alliance still uncertain, EurActiv.com, 28 May 2014
- ^ a b "Le Pen and Wilders fail to form anti-EU bloc". BBC News. 24 June 2014.
- ^ Charles Bremner (29 May 2014). "Le Pen party steals Farage's Italian allies". The Times.
- ^ Kim Willsher; Lizzy Davies (28 May 2014). "Buoyant Le Pen seeks more allies for Eurosceptic group in Brussels". The Guardian.
- ^ "Le Pen and Farage battle for partners to form group". Euractiv.com. 29 May 2014.
- ^ Tony Cross (29 May 2014). "Ukip's Farage, Front National's Le Pen compete for Eurosceptic leadership … and EU cash". RFI English.
- ^ Ophélie Spanneut (9 May 2014). "Le Pen and Farage competing to form groups" (PDF). Europolitics. No. 4864. p. 12.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Kim Willsher; Ian Traynor (24 June 2014), "Marine Le Pen fails to form far-right bloc in European parliament", The Guardian
- ^ Umberto Bacchi (24 June 2014). "Le Pen's Far-Right EU Parliament Alliance Fails at Start". International Business Times.
- ^ "FPÖ MP is now the head of a EU legal party", Die Presse. (8 November 2012)
- ^ "Die Flüchtlings -katastrophe auf dem Mittelmeer löst in Europa tiefe Erschütterung aus | European Alliance for Freedom". eurallfree.org. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
- ^ a b c d e "Mölzer wirkt in neuer EU-Rechtsaußenpartei mit", Der Standard (in German), 29 June 2011, retrieved 7 July 2011
- ^ a b "Press Conference: Aftermath of the elections, a future for the EU or a future for Europe?". European Alliance for Freedom. 28 May 2014. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Archived copy" (PDF). europarl.europa.eu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ France's Jean-Marie Le Pen joins European far-right alliance
- ^ Protests at Austria far-right ball as Holocaust remembered, Euronews, 28 January 2012, archived from the original on 22 March 2019, retrieved 15 March 2012
- ^ "Marine Le Pen: What she means for Europe", EuroNews, 21 February 2012
- ^ Marine Le Pen en Autriche Archived 10 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Front National, 27 January 2012
- ^ a b "list of representatives of European Political Parties – a Freedom of Information request to European Parliament" (PDF). 31 January 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d "list of representatives of European Political Parties – a Freedom of Information request to European Parliament". 31 January 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ a b About EAF
- ^ a b Krisztina Morvai is quitting the European Alliance for Freedom Party Archived 29 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Hungarian Ambiance, 26 July 2011
Further reading
[edit]- de Lange, Sarah L.; Rooduijn, Matthijs; van Spanje, Joost (4 February 2014), "The 'Le Pen-Wilders' alliance will change European politics", Policy Network Observatory
- Mudde, Cas (11 February 2014), "The Le Pen-Wilders alliance and the European Parliament: Plus ça change, plus la meme chose", The Washington Post
- Hafez, Farid (20 October 2014), "Shifting borders: Islamophobia as common ground for building pan-European right-wing unity", Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 479–499, doi:10.1080/0031322X.2014.965877, S2CID 143843693
External links
[edit]- Official website (archived)
- European Foundation for Freedom (archived)
