Took heart from freebie given to European political party (6,2)
I believe the answer is:
perked up
'took heart' is the definition.
'freebie given to european political party' is the wordplay.
'freebie' becomes 'perk'.
'given to' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'european' becomes 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'political party' becomes 'dup' (Democratic Unionist Party).
'perk'+'e'+'dup'='PERKED UP'
'from' is the link.
(Other definitions for perked up that I've seen before include "given lots of extra benefits?" , "Looked happier" .)