Nigel Farage Wishes Barroso a Happy Retirement

Nigel Farage wishes Barroso a happy retirement. “But I’ve enjoyed much of what you said over the years. Indeed, I particularly enjoyed you the day after the Irish, the only country indeed that had a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, when the Irish voted no to Lisbon, and you stood up and said: “The Irish didn't really mean no”, and I particularly enjoyed that. I also enjoyed you saying that the European Union was the first ever non-imperial empire. Because in that you showed so much of what this project has now become.”

Debate:

Review of the Barroso II Commission

Statement by the President of the Commission

[2014/2812(RSP)]

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?lang=en&reference=2014/2812%28RSP%29

European Parliament, Strasbourg, 21 October 2014

Video source: EbS (European Parliament)

Transcript:

Martin Schulz:

EFDD group, Mr Farage.

Nigel Farage:

Well Mr. Barroso, ten years. Ten years we've been trading blows in this Parliament, and indeed I’m the only person on today's speaker list that was involved ten years ago. And I found you, I have to say, for the vast majority of that time very civil, but often bemused about what I’ve had to say and by events in Europe as they've unfolded. In fact I remember the first speech I gave, you presented your new Commission. And I pointed out to you that your nominee from France, Mr. Jacques Barrot, was in fact a convicted embezzler who had received a two year suspended prison sentence, and been barred from public office. And my shock at that moment was that you simply showed me in your face you had no idea that it was true, but of course it was. Perhaps that comes from your early days as an active student Maoist, where you believe in big ideas that don't perhaps have much practical reality.

But I’ve enjoyed much of what you said over the years. Indeed, I particularly enjoyed you the day after the Irish, the only country indeed that had a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, when the Irish voted no to Lisbon, and you stood up and said: “The Irish didn't really mean no”, and I particularly enjoyed that.

I also enjoyed you saying that the European Union was the first ever non-imperial empire. Because in that you showed so much of what this project has now become. I don't think anybody doubts that those that got together in the 1950-s, after two ruinous world wars, with the genuine intention of getting French and Germans to sit around the table, talk together, and trade together. No one doubts that was the right thing to do. But it's morphed and changed into something else. And it's your analogy to an empire that indeed has led to the current failure. It is the extension to allow in more and more countries. It is the expansion of the Euro-zone to let in Mediterranean countries that should never have joined in the first place, and that are now suffering so horribly.

So I view you as a fantasist. But at no point have I ever, ever, implied that you were dishonest, you are not. You are very honest indeed. I remember you telling Martin Callanan, who led the Conservative group here for some time, as the Conservative party under David Cameron's leadership became more euro-skeptic with each British parliamentary Bi-election, and you telling Martin Callanan: look, don't try being like UKIP because actually the voters will go for the real thing. And you were right, we won the European Elections.

But thank you for last Sunday, thank you for appearing on British television, thank you for confirming that the real fantasist isn't you, it's David Cameron. The British Prime-minister who pretends that we could restrict free movement and remain members of the European Union. You made it clear that he was wrong. He was deceiving the British people, and you made it clear that you were the boss, and not him. And for that I thank you and wish you a very happy retirement indeed.

Translated by Jadranko Brkic