Nigel Farage clashes with Juncker at European Parliament

Nigel Farage and Jean Claude Juncker have clashed - and embraced - at an emergency session of the European Parliament to discuss the fallout of the Brexit vote.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage attends a plenary session at the EU headquarters in Brussels post-Brexit. Picture: AFP/Getty ImagesUKIP leader Nigel Farage attends a plenary session at the EU headquarters in Brussels post-Brexit. Picture: AFP/Getty Images
UKIP leader Nigel Farage attends a plenary session at the EU headquarters in Brussels post-Brexit. Picture: AFP/Getty Images

“Why are you here?” the European Commission president demanded to know as he opened his speech with the Ukip leader and fellow eurosceptic MEPs sat at an adjacent desk ostentatiously sporting a Union Jack tie.

“That’s the last time you are applauding here,” Mr Juncker said after the fiercely anti-EU politician applauded his opening statement that Europe “must respect British democracy and the way it has expressed its view”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“To some extent I am really surprised that you are here,” he told him.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage attends a plenary session at the EU headquarters in Brussels post-Brexit. Picture: AFP/Getty ImagesUKIP leader Nigel Farage attends a plenary session at the EU headquarters in Brussels post-Brexit. Picture: AFP/Getty Images
UKIP leader Nigel Farage attends a plenary session at the EU headquarters in Brussels post-Brexit. Picture: AFP/Getty Images

“You were fighting for the exit, the British people voted in favour of the exit. Why are you here?”

Mr Farage told him it was a “pleasure”.

The pair were seen to share an embrace, with the famously tactile Mr Juncker appearing to kiss the politician on the ear.

DOWNLOAD THE SCOTSMAN APP ON ITUNES OR GOOGLE PLAY