DW Conflict Zone interviews Nigel Farage
In an interview with DW Conflict Zone, former UKIP leader and prominent Brexiteer Nigel Farage talked about the future of the EU, political correctness and a UK-US trade deal. Here are his most notable comments.
The future of the EU, according to Nigel Farage
In an interview with DW Conflict Zone, former UKIP leader and prominent Brexiteer Nigel Farage talked about the future of the EU, political correctness and a UK-US trade deal. Here are his most notable comments.
On Brexit and the future of the EU
Farage said the "European project is dying before our eyes. It doesn't work. There's very little residual love for it." "It would be a bad thing for the people of Europe if the political class of Europe willfully go for a bad deal with Britain because they want to punish us." "Euroskepticism is on the march everywhere."
On Merkel's refugee policy
In June 2016, Farage said the possibility of attacks by migrants like the sexual assaults in Cologne would be the nuclear bomb of the Brexit referendum. "I think they were in the end ... If I look back on that referendum, and there were lots of factors that led to a Brexit vote … I do think what Ms. Merkel did make a very big difference in the British referendum, I genuinely mean that."
On Trump and a quick US-UK trade deal
Farge said he thinks there was "genuine shock amongst the American administration that the British government was not in a position to accept their generous offer." "And sadly, I think we should have ignored the EU. I think we should have just gone in straight into a trade negotiation, we didn't do so. I'm sorry about it."
On calling Obama a 'loathsome creature'
In November 2016, Farage called former US President Barack Obama a "loathsome creature." "He insulted the whole British people. He insulted the British nation for eight years," Farage told DW Conflict Zone. "He looked down his nose at us and he saw Germany as his primary ally in Europe."
On political correctness
Farage came under fire earlier in April for comparing EU ministers to the mafia. After being told his language was unacceptable, Farage acknowledged the "national sensibilities" involved, offering instead that MEPs were behaving like "gangsters." "The idea that you can't make a comment about someone because they're female or they're Jewish … is nonsense," Farage told DW Conflict Zone.
On his political career with UKIP
"Can you think of a political party in the West in modern times that’s been more successful than UKIP? Because I can’t. We've changed British history." "I didn't come into politics for a career. I came into politics to try and change things and boy we've done that," he said. "We opted for making our own decisions and steering our own ship. And that I believe to be right in all circumstances."