Editing European Free Alliance (section)

==History==
Regionalists have long been represented in the [[European Parliament]]. In the [[1979 European Parliament election|1979 election]] four regionalist parties obtained seats: the [[Scottish National Party]] (SNP), the Flemish [[People's Union (Belgium)|People's Union]] (VU), the Brussels-based [[DéFI|Democratic Front of Francophones]] (FDF) and the [[South Tyrolean People's Party]] (SVP). The SNP, although being predominantly [[social democracy|social-democratic]], joined the [[European Progressive Democrats]], a conservative group led by the French [[Rally for the Republic]]. The VU and the FDF joined the heterogeneous [[Technical Group of Independents (1979–84)|Technical Group of Independents]], while the SVP joined the [[European People's Party group]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Wolfram Nordsieck |url=http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups1979.html |title=Parties and Elections in Europe |publisher=Parties-and-elections.eu |access-date=10 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512230243/http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups1979.html |archive-date=12 May 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1981, six parties (VU, the [[Frisian National Party]], [[Independent Fianna Fáil]], the [[Party of German-speaking Belgians]], the [[Party for the Organization of a Free Brittany]] and the [[Alsace-Lorraine National Association]]), plus three observers (the [[Union of the Corsican People]], UPC, the [[Occitan Party]] and the [[Democratic Convergence of Catalonia]], CDC), joined forces to form the European Free Alliance.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.e-f-a.org/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/3.4.4.3_EFA-THE-INTERNATIONALISM.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=9 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304194830/http://www.e-f-a.org/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/3.4.4.3_EFA-THE-INTERNATIONALISM.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="GouldMessina2014">{{cite book|author1=Andrew C. Gould|author2=Anthony M. Messina|title=Europe's Contending Identities: Supranationalism, Ethnoregionalism, Religion, and New Nationalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zCVOAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA132|date=17 February 2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-03633-8|pages=132–}}</ref> Regionalist MEPs continued, however, to sit in different groups also after the [[1984 European Parliament election|1984 election]]: the SNP in the Gaullist-dominated [[European Democratic Alliance]]; the VU, the [[Sardinian Action Party]] (PSd'Az) and [[Eusko Alkartasuna|Basque Solidarity]] (EA) in the [[Rainbow Group (1984–89)|Rainbow Group]], together with Green parties; the SVP in the [[European People's Party group]]; the CDC with the [[European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party Group|Liberal Democrats]]; and [[Herri Batasuna]] among [[Non-Inscrits]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Wolfram Nordsieck |url=http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups1984.html |title=Parties and Elections in Europe |publisher=Parties-and-elections.eu |access-date=20 October 2013 |archive-date=12 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712011449/http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups1984.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Only after the [[1989 European Parliament election]] did EFA members form a united group, called [[Rainbow Group (1989–94)|Rainbow]] like its green predecessor. It consisted of three Italian MEPs (two for [[Lega Lombarda]] and one for the PSd'Az), two Spanish MEPs (one each for the PNV and the [[Andalusian Party]], PA), one Belgian MEP (for VU), one French MEP (UPC), one British MEP (SNP) and one independent MEP from Ireland. They were joined by 4 MEPs from the Danish left-wing Eurosceptic [[People's Movement against the EU]], while the other regionalist parties, including the SVP, Batasuna and the [[Convergence and Union]] of Catalonia (CiU) declined to join.<ref>{{cite web |author=Wolfram Nordsieck |url=http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups1989.html |title=Parties and Elections in Europe |publisher=Parties-and-elections.eu |access-date=20 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512230355/http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups1989.html |archive-date=12 May 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the [[1994 European Parliament election]], the regionalists lost many seats. Moreover, the EFA had suspended its major affiliate, [[Lega Nord]], for having joined forces in government with the post-fascist [[National Alliance (Italy)|National Alliance]]. Also, the PNV chose to switch to the [[European People's Party]] (EPP). The three remaining EFA MEPs (representing the SNP, the VU and the [[Canarian Coalition]]) formed a group with the French ''[[Radical Party of the Left|Énergie Radicale]]'' list and the Italian [[Pannella List]]: the [[European Radical Alliance]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Wolfram Nordsieck |url=http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups1994.html |title=Parties and Elections in Europe |publisher=Parties-and-elections.eu |access-date=20 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512230251/http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups1994.html |archive-date=12 May 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Following the [[1999 European Parliament election]], in which EFA parties did quite well, EFA elected MEPs formed a joint group with the [[European Green Party]], under the name [[Greens–European Free Alliance]] (Greens/EFA). In the event the EFA supplied ten members: two each from the Scottish SNP, the Welsh [[Plaid Cymru]], and the Flemish VU, and one each from the Basque PNV and EA, the Andalusian PA and the [[Galician Nationalist Bloc]] (BNG).<ref>{{cite web |author=Wolfram Nordsieck |url=http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups1999.html |title=Parties and Elections in Europe |publisher=Parties-and-elections.eu |access-date=20 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512225101/http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups1999.html |archive-date=12 May 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the [[2004 European Parliament election]], the EFA, which had formally become a [[European political party]],<ref>{{cite web |author=Wolfram Nordsieck |url=http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups2004.html |title=Parties and Elections in Europe |publisher=Parties-and-elections.eu |access-date=20 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924064901/http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups2004.html |archive-date=24 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> was reduced to four MEPs: two from the SNP ([[Ian Hudghton]] and [[Alyn Smith]]), one from [[Plaid Cymru]] ([[Jill Evans]]) and one from the [[Republican Left of Catalonia]] (ERC; [[Bernat Joan i Marí]], replaced at the mid-term by MEP [[Mikel Irujo]] of the Basque EA). They were joined by two associate members: [[Tatjana Ždanoka]] of [[Latvian Russian Union|For Human Rights in United Latvia]] (PCTVL) and [[László Tőkés]], an independent MEP and former member of the [[Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania]] (UMDR). Co-operation between the EFA and the Greens continued.

Following the 2008 revision of the EU Regulation that governs European political parties allowing the creation of [[Political foundation at European level|European foundations]] affiliated to European political parties, the EFA established its official foundation/[[think tank]], the [[Coppieters Foundation]] (CF), in September 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ideasforeurope.eu |title=Centre Maurits Coppieters (CMC) – Ideas for Europe |publisher=Ideasforeurope.eu |access-date=20 October 2013}}</ref>

In the [[2009 European Parliament election]], six MEPs were returned for the EFA: two from the SNP (Ian Hudghton and Alyn Smith), one from Plaid Cymru (Jill Evans), one from the [[Party of the Corsican Nation]] (PNC; [[François Alfonsi]]), one from the ERC ([[Oriol Junqueras]]), and Tatjana Ždanoka, an individual member of the EFA from Latvia. After the election, the [[New Flemish Alliance]] (N-VA) also joined the EFA. The EFA subgroup thus counted seven MEPs.<ref>{{cite web |author=Wolfram Nordsieck |url=http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups2009.html |title=Parties and Elections in Europe |publisher=Parties-and-elections.eu |access-date=10 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512230142/http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/eu-groups2009.html |archive-date=12 May 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the [[2014 European Parliament election]], EFA-affiliated parties returned twelve seats to the Parliament: four for the N-VA, two for the SNP, two for "[[The Left for the Right to Decide]]" (an electoral list primarily composed of the ERC), one for "[[The Peoples Decide]]" (an electoral list mainly comprising [[EH Bildu]], a Basque coalition including EA), one for "[[European Spring (Spanish electoral alliance)|European Spring]]" (an electoral list comprising the [[Valencian Nationalist Bloc]], BNV, and the [[Chunta Aragonesista|Aragonese Union]], ChA), one from Plaid Cymru, and one from the [[Latvian Russian Union]] (LKS). Due to ideological divergences with the Flemish [[Groen (political party)|Greens]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.euractiv.com/sections/eu-elections-2014/will-flemish-separatists-save-tories-europe-302068|title=Will Flemish separatists save the Tories in Europe?|work=EurActiv – EU News & policy debates, across languages|access-date=26 August 2015|date=13 May 2014}}</ref> the N-VA defected to the [[European Conservatives and Reformists Group]] (ECR)<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20140618_01146790|title= N-VA kiest voor ECR-fractie in Europees Parlement|first= Johan|last= Van Overtveldt|date= 18 June 2014|work= standaard.be|language= nl|trans-title= N-VA chooses ECR Group in the European Parliament|access-date= 18 June 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.flanderstoday.eu/politics/n-va-joins-ecr-group-european-parliament|title=N-VA joins ECR group in European Parliament|access-date=26 August 2015|archive-date=4 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804110258/http://www.flanderstoday.eu/politics/n-va-joins-ecr-group-european-parliament|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the EH Bildu MEP joined the [[European United Left–Nordic Green Left]] (GUE/NGL) group. Thus, EFA had seven members in the Greens/EFA group and four within ECR.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greens-efa.eu/up-to-date-list-of-the-meps-for-the-new-legislative-period-12490.html|title=Up-to-date list of the MEPs for the new legislative period|access-date=26 August 2015}}</ref>

In the [[2019 European Parliament election]] the EFA gained a fourth seat in the United Kingdom, due to the SNP gaining a third seat to add to Plaid's one. However, the EFA suffered the loss of these seats in January 2020 due to [[Brexit]], which meant SNP and PC MEPs had to leave.