MEPs jeer Nigel Farage for ridiculing Belgium
EURO MP Nigel Farage was facing outrage in Brussels last night after denouncing Belgium as an “embarrassment” in a blistering attack on EU bureaucracy.
The UK Independence Party MEP was jeered and for ridiculing the Belgian prime minister during a debate in the European Parliament on Tuesday.
Mr Farage hit out at the takeover by Belgium of the EU presidency just days after the separatist New Flemish Party – which wants to divide the country into Dutch and French speaking nations – won Belgium’s general election.
He told acting Belgian premier Yves Leterme: “A few months ago you admitted you didn’t even know the national anthem of your own country. How can you have a presidency without a government?
“The sheer hypocrisy is beyond satire.”
Describing Belgium as an “embarrassment”, Mr Farage went on: “Belgium is an artificial construction as a nation, and a prototype for the equally artificial nation of the EU.”
Yesterday Tory Euro-MP Timothy Kirkhope described the attack as “ridiculous and beneath words” and “an easy headline”.
Mr Farage, who was injured in a light plane crash on election day in May, last night vowed to continue his attacks. “We are being told what to do by a non-country. It shows up the whole EU farce for what it is,” he said.