European Alliance for Freedom

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. 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. 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. In 2012 the EP's maximal grant dropped to €360,455. The party's affiliated political foundation is the European Foundation for Freedom. 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. Some media reports referred to the proposed group as the "Le Pen–Wilders 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.