We have a thing over here in the UK called the United Kingdom Independence Party. Now, I've never thought of myself as a Conservative in any sense of the word, but this group interests me, for two reasons. Firstly, their primary aim is to withdraw Britain from the European union. I can see both sides of this argument, but I like it mainly because of the second reason, which is their former leader Nigel Farage. He's an MEP, a Member of the European Parliament. he was recently accused of lining his pockets with gold, but he's a politician, and as far as I can tell, they're all in it for the money and to make themselves feel important. There's not a one of them I'd trust to sit the right way on a lavatory. However, it is what happened on the 24th of February this year in the Euro Parliament, and the furore afterwards, that interests me.
On that day, Herman Van Rompuy, the first long-term President Of The European Council, gave a speech. Afterwards, Farage taunted Van Rompuy thusly:
Today Nige was summoned to the President of the European Parliament and fined 2980 Euros, about £2700 or ten days' expenses. He was asked also to apologise publicly to the people of Belgium.
He said he would do no such thing. I am inclined to agree with him when he Twittered, "Free speech is expensive in Brussels."
He continued "I am not going to apologise to Mr. van Rompuy, and i am not going to apologise to the people of Belgium. Surely I am entitled to have a dig at a man representing 500 million people, who gets paid more than the US President and who has not been elected by us?".
Ah... only in Europe, eh?
Calling Belgium a "non country" was perhaps a tad harsh. I've been there - it's quite nice!
ReplyDeleteRupert