Independence/Democracy

The Independence / Democracy Group (Ind / Dem by English: "Independence / Democracy Group ") was a pan-European critical Group in the European Parliament, which existed from the 2004 European elections to the European elections in 2009. It was the successor to the Group for a Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD ). The main objective of Ind / Whom it, to reduce the influence of the European Union on national governments was (see subsidiarity). With 37 MPs in the constitution of the Ind / Which was the smallest group in the European Parliament. By the end of the legislative period, the Group had shrunk to 22 members. The group had the lowest rate of cohesion, ie the greatest differences in the voting behavior of their members, and the group whose members are the least participated in the parliamentary sessions. At the top of the Group of Briton Nigel Farage stood ( UKIP ) and the Danish Hanne Dahl ( JuniBevægelsen ). In the European elections in 2009 some of the member parties could no longer move in the European Parliament, in particular the members of the EUDemokraten. The group had theoretically still 18 members, too few to continue to keep the faction status. Much of the remaining parties, therefore, joined the newly formed Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group ( EFD).

Parties in the Ind / The

The Ind / The included in the 2004-09 legislative session to members of ten parties from nine different countries, the British United Kingdom Independence Party ( UKIP ) is the largest member party. Some of the member parties are part of pan-European parties, namely the EUDemokraten ( EUD ) and the European Christian Political Movement ( ECPM ); other parties of the Group, however, are not organized at European level. The European party Alliance of Independent Democrats in Europe ( AIDE ), whose members are part of the IND / DEM Group were also, was dissolved on 31 December 2008. Therefore announced their membership in the newly established European party Libertas three of the six AIDE deputies early February 2009.

By 2006, the four European Parliamentarians of the Northern League were a member of the Group of Ind / The. The Lega Nord was excluded from the fraction after in February 2006 was produce with the controversial cartoons of Mohammed, the then Italian Minister of reforms, the Northern League member Roberto Calderoli T -shirts and such on 17 February 2006 in a demonstratively live interview showed, after violent protests broke out in Libya, with 11 dead.

The following are the members of the Ind / Dem Group are listed at the end of the 2004-2009 term.

1 Two of the three members of the Mouvement pour la France and a member of LAOS declared in early February 2009 her conversion to the newly established European party Libertas.

Leading members of the Group

• Nigel Farage ( UK, Chairman, UK Independence Party )
• Kathy Sinnott (Ireland, Group Chairman, Independent)
• Johannes Blokland ( Netherlands, Member of the Executive Board, ChristianUnion )
• Paul -Marie Coûteaux (France, Member of the Board, Mouvement pour la France )
• Georgios Karatzaferis ( Greece, Member of the Executive Board, LAOS )
• Nils Lundgren (Sweden, Member of the Board, Junilistan )
• Vladimir Zelezny (Czech Republic, Member of the Board, Nezávislí )

After the 2009 European elections

In the European elections in 2009 achieved the parties to the Ind / The alone is no longer enough MPs to meet the criteria for the establishment of a Group in the European Parliament, especially since not a single member of the EUD managed to re-election. On the other hand, MPs other eurosceptic parties were elected in several countries that had not previously been a member of the Parliament. On July 1, 2009, UKIP and the Northern League has announced the formation of a new group called Europe of Freedom and Democracy ( EFD ) is known, which included most of the former Ind / Dem members and other small parties. A Ind / Dem member, namely the Dutch ChristianUnion, also joined the new European Conservatives and Reformists.