EU high priest appointment for Brexit negotiations a declaration of war - Nigel Farage MEP

• European Parliament, Strasbourg, 14 September 2016

• Debate: State of the Union
Statement by the President of the Commission
[2016/2734(RSP)]

Transcript:

This annual tradition of this State of the Union speech was of course started by your predecessor, Mr Barroso and perhaps now is a good opportunity, I’m sure the whole house, would like to join me in congratulating Mr Barroso on his new, highly paid job at Goldman Sachs. Isn’t all wonderful? Because whatever happens to you Mr Juncker, the big boys I’m sure will look after you.

Having listened to what you said this morning all I can say is that I’m pleased we voted to leave. It is clear that there are no lessons that are going to be learned from Brexit, indeed it was the usual recipe; more Europe, and in this particular case more military Europe.

A European army and common defence and already in this house people are saying ‘well the Americans won’t be here anymore, we’ll have to stand alone with our own military structures.’ I don’t know about a project of peace I would have thought this is probably a very dangerous move. It isn’t going to change the rapid growth of opposition parties across the whole of Europe, it isn’t going to stop the Central and Eastern European countries from saying no to Mrs Merkel’s migrant quotas and I think you’ve got a lot more referendums to look forward to.

But in terms of Brexit, well you’re probably right to be slightly critical of the British government who I agree ought to get on with it. But it is pretty clear that the EU is getting on with it and you have already appointed your divorce lawyers and on behalf of the European Parliament we’ve got Guy Verhofstadt. He’s the man who is going to be negotiating Brexit and if you think of this building as a temple, well Mr Verhofstadt is the high priest. A fanatic, in fact there is only one real nationalist in the room and it’s you because you want flags, anthems, armies. You are an EU nationalist and I frankly think that this appointment amounts to pretty much a declaration of war on any sensible negotiating process. If you stick to the dogma of saying reciprocal tariff free access to the Single Market we must maintain free movement of people then you will inevitably drive us towards no deal. No deal and trading on WTO rules, for the United Kingdom that actually isn’t too bad because it’s very much better and cheaper than the current deal we’ve got.

But for hundreds of thousands of German car workers and French wine producers potentially it is very bad news because we are their biggest market who they trade with most profitably in the world and I would argue what we really need is to have a sensible, common sense approach and for this parliament to recognise it has made a mistake and to find somebody who actually likes the United Kingdom to lead these talks

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• Video: EbS (European Parliament)
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• EU Member States:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, United Kingdom

[adriannicolau]

hahaha.. Nigel Farage brilliant and incisive as usual! What a fantastic character! EU will miss him. 😆

[serenasmith]

It says so much good about the British people that they have someone like Farage in the EU speaking for them. Britain will always be better and people like Farage and the English that allow him to be their advocate are the reason.

[bumblebee]

Nigel needs to start his own you tube channel called Daily Reality with Nigel Farage where he can continue to call out the lies, tell it like it is, and all with his brutal honesty. I hope he does not go too far away I could watch him all day!

[kelly]

We voted out .MAY should tell the E.U.we go on our terms not MERKELS.
What they going to do kick us out.

[daftie-]

Is it Von Strolch sitting behind Nige?

Always great to see euroskeptical parties coming close to one another.

[JPV]

Its not the dog that barks the loudest that you have to be afraid of.
Whatever Farage says in EU, the impact now is in the neighborhood of zero.
Guy Verhofstad EU negotiator, that's going to be a fun show to see ;))

[susanpettitt]

Go get out and leave all this faceless corruption....Europe

[humphreybogart]

Agree with Farage on the last point. Appointing Verhofstadt as EU negotiator for Brexit is actually a mistake. He is too hostile to the British to make sound judgements on behalf of the EU and will drive a division in trade and cooperation that will harm businesses across Europe. The British have a tradition of being more business-friendly and the tables will gradually turn. Eventually I can even see continental European businesses setting up their base in the UK because the disadvantages of tariffs imposed by the EU will be outweighed by lighter regulation and lower tax in the UK.

[shenspen]

1984 !...Out means In !!! (don't you know)...

[Mascherina]

Nigel, the UK government's three Brexiteers -- are they a billet doux, a love letter to the EU? Why should the EU do you any favours and hire someone who's an Anglophile? Come on, buddy -- the gloves are off! Deal with it!

[stucrawford]

Nigel Farage Embarrasses our country every time his mouth is open .

[kkmardigrce]

EU nationalist... What bollocks. After all wars waged upon the continent calling someone an EU nationalist is simply stupid. Someone wanting Europe united CAN NOT be a nationalist. By definition. Farrage is a persuasive talker but he can only persuade the ones who can't think on their own.

[naybobdenod]

Once again Nigel spells it out exactly as it is. Appointing that fucking lunatic as the EU`s main negotiator is complete lunacy.
They just will not learn will they. The bitter divisions that will occur because of this appointment are avoidable. Instead they go down a route knowing full well what the consequences will be.
Pragmatism is a word that the EU should embrace, instead ( as is the norm ) they completely ignore its meaning.

[swanner]

Mr Verhofstadt is their brexit negotiator? The man who thinks that the british are still brazen imperialists because we want to trade with the commonwealth? Lol
#HardBrexit

[thi]

What did he mean by "Americans won't be here any more?"

[IShallNotSubmit]

Why is he there? When is the UK invoking article 50?