Independence/Democracy (IND/DEM) was a Eurosceptic political group active during the 2004–2009 term of the European Parliament. The group was the successor to the Europe of Democracies and Diversities (EDD) group. The group collapsed following the 2009 European elections after losing many of its MEPs and was succeeded by Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) for the 2009–2014 term of the European Parliament. History The 2004 European Parliament elections were reported as a good result for Eurosceptic parties. 37 MEPs (33 on 20 July, with four more the next day) from the UK Independence Party (UKIP), June Movement (Denmark), Movement for France (France), Northern League (Italy), ChristianUnion – Reformed Political Party (Netherlands), Popular Orthodox Rally (Greece), June List (Sweden), Independent Democrats (Czech Republic), the League of Polish Families (Poland) and an Independent MEP from the Republic of Ireland, joined in the first week of the new Parliament to form the Eurosceptic group called "Independence/Democracy" (IND/DEM), succeeding the group called "Europe of Democracies and Diversities" (EDD) that had existed during the European Parliament's 1999–2004 term. In the first week, IND/DEM assigned a UKIP MEP to the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. The MEP, Godfrey Bloom, promptly made comments including "No self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age" and "I am here to represent Yorkshire women who always have dinner on the table when you get home. I am going to promote men's rights." The remarks engendered outrage from a range of fellow politicians. One UKIP MEP never made it to IND/DEM. MEP Ashley Mote was expelled from UKIP prior to IND/DEM's formation when it became known that he faced charges for housing benefit fraud. Mote went on to join the far-right Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty group before being convicted in 2007. The Northern League MEPs eventually all left the group after their expulsion from IND/DEM following an incident involving a T-shirt and the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. MEPs from the League of Polish Families also left the group, although not all and not all at once. After having been suspended from UKIP following his arrest on fraud allegations, MEP Tom Wise left IND/DEM in June 2008. By 24 June 2008, IND/DEM had 22 MEPs. After the 2009 European Parliament elections, 18 IND/DEM MEPs from four Member States were elected for the 2009–2014 term (the Seventh European Parliament). The great majority