WATCH: Farage Says EU Sent a ‘Declaration of War’ After Brexit Vote

Nigel Farage has said the European Union (EU) sent a “declaration of war” to the UK by appointing a hard-line federalist to negotiate Brexit, as well as slamming European Commission plans for an “EU army”.

The former UKIP leader was responding to Jean-Claude Juncker’s state of the European Union address, in which he insisted, “the European Union, as such, is not at risk” after the Brexit vote and implied the Leave campaign betrayed “European values” and was linked to attacks on Polish worker.

He also described, in the clearest terms yet, his plans to push ahead with an EU military force.

“Having listened to what you’ve said this morning, all I can say is I am glad we voted to leave. It is clear there are no lessons that are going to be learnt from Brexit”, blasted Mr. Farage after mocking Mr. Junker’s predecessor for accepting a job with Goldman Sachs.

“Indeed, it was the usual recipe: More Europe, and in this particular case, of course, more military Europe. A European army, a common defence [policy]…” he said, accusing the EU of abandoning their American allies.

Shortly after his speech, speaking on Sky News, he said the EU was “kissing good bye to NATO” and setting up “parallel structure”.

“I don’t know about a project for peace; I would have thought this was a very dangerous move”, he told the European Parliament.

Before the referendum, many pro-EU campaigners denied plans for an EU army, with former deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg calling the idea a “dangerous fantasy”.

“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’s pretty clear the EU is getting on with it and you have already appointed your divorce lawyers”, he added.

 

Last week, is was reported that former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who has furiously clashed with Mr. Farage in the European Parliament on multiple occasions, would be leading the Brexit Negotiations. He will be joining anti-British French politician Michel Barnier negotiating on behalf of the EU Commission.

“And on behalf of the European Parliament, we’ve got Guy Verhofstadt. He’s the man whose going to negotiate Brexit, and if you were to think of this building as a temple, well, Mr. Verhofstadt is the high priest – a fanatic”.

Mr. Verhofstadt has described the Brexit vote as “stupidity” and claimed that “Britain without the EU is in fact a dwarf on the world level” since the referendum in June.

“There is only one real nationalist in the room, and it’s you. Because you want flags, anthems, armies – you are an EU nationalist!” Mr. Farage said, indicating towards Mr. Verhofstadt, who rolled his eyes and has accused Mr. Farage of right-wing extremism in the past.

“And I frankly think that this appointment is pretty much a declaration war on any sensible negotiating process”, he added.

“And this isn’t going to change the rapid growth in opposition parties across the whole of Europe”, Mr. Farage also said, addressing the rise of Euroscepticism across the continent in the post-Brexit context.

One expression of this Euroscepticism is the resistance of Poland, Austria, and the Czech Republic to mandatory migrant resettlement quotas. Hungary is due to hold a referendum on whether or not to accept them.

President Viktor Orbán explained last week: “The referendum is necessary since I expect there will be increasingly serious debate between Hungary and Brussels in the coming months on the issue of migration.”

Mr. Farage commented: “[European integration] 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”.