Flags at the European Parliament's Robert Schuman building. Photo credit: Tristam Sparks
During an European Council meeting, Nigel Farage MEP, outspoken leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), has heavily criticised the eurozone and plans to bail out Spain. In the stinging verbal blast, which vas gone viral on the internet, Farage labelled Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy “just about the most incompetent leader in the whole of Europe, and that’s saying something, because there is pretty stiff competition.”
Turning to the Spanish bail out, Farage said, “this deal makes things worse not better. A hundred billion [euro] is put up for the Spanish banking system, and 20 per cent of that money has to come from Italy. And under the deal the Italians have to lend to the Spanish banks at 3 per cent but to get that money they have to borrow on the markets at 7 per cent. It’s genius isn’t it. It really is brilliant. So what we are doing with this package is we are actually driving countries like Italy towards needing to be bailed out themselves. In addition to that, we put a further 10 per cent on Spanish national debt and I tell you, any banking analyst will tell you, 100 billion does not solve the Spanish banking problem, it would need to be more like 400 billion. And with Greece teetering on the edge of Euro withdrawal, the real elephant in the room is that once Greece leaves, the ECB, the European Central Bank is bust. It’s gone.”
Farage concluded that the Central Bank is “is total and utter failure” and that “this ship, the euro Titanic has now hit the iceberg and sadly there simply aren’t enough life boats.”
