Neo-Nazism is on the rise in Europe and if nations do not opt-out of EU democratically, the entity has a violent end ahead of it, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said during a second public debate on the UK’s EU membership.
Farage specified that if EU members could not rein back control
over their own countries diplomatically, then neo-Nazi groups,
like the Golden Dawn party in Greece, would do it for them
through violence.
"I want to see the EU brought to an end, but I want it to end
democratically. If it does not end democratically I am afraid it
will end unpleasantly,” Farage said during the debate with
the leader of Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg.
According to the viewers, Nigel Farage won the television debate
on Europe by 69 percent to 31 percent, a Guardian ICM poll showed.
During the debate Farage criticized big business, wealthy
landowners and focused on growing violence in Europe, stating
that his goal was to take care of the white working class.
"Already some countries are beginning to see the rise of,
worryingly, political extremism. There is a neo-Nazi party in
Greece that look certain to win seats in the European parliament
…We see in Madrid, we see in Athens very large protests, tens of
thousands of people, a lot of violence,” Farage said.
"If you take away from people their ability through the
ballot box to change their futures because they have given away
control of everything to somebody else then I am afraid they tend
to resort to unpleasant means and that’s my big worry," he
added.
Clegg responded with accusations that Farage is trying to turn
back the clock back to the 19th century.
"I don't believe in the dishonesty in saying to the British
people that you can turn the clock back. What next? Are you going
to say we should return to the gold standard or a pre-decimal
currency, or maybe get [Victorian-era cricket player] WG Grace to
open the batting for England again? This is the 21st century, it
is not the 19th century,” Clegg stated.
“There are huge difficulties in the eurozone, but the idea
that it is somehow a good thing … for it to fall apart, to
perhaps even predict, as Nigel Farage has just done, that it will
do so with violence on the streets across Europe and at the same
time to side with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin on some of
the biggest issues, rather than our own country and the European
democracy we work together with, I just think it’s a huge
difference of priorities."
Other things discussed during the debate included immigration
policies, trade and international issues such as Ukraine.