Transcript:
“Well that is the 19th crisis summit that Mr Cameron has been to, as The Rolling Stones might say “The 19th Nervous Breakdown.”
And that’s reflected I think by the funereal mood in the chamber this morning.
Yes on that Friday morning, “breakthrough” was cried, and indeed Mr Van Rompuy parroted the word this morning, “breakthrough”. Nobody believes you, the wheels are coming off. This new European Stability Mechanism, your new bailout vehicle is doomed before it starts. We have legal challenges in Ireland and in Germany. We have the Estonian Justice Minister saying it won’t fit their Constitution.
But most fun of all, the Finns and the Dutch seem to have broken the agreement that was made in the middle of the night. Perhaps they were excluded from this, perhaps the little countries don’t have a say in Europe at all anymore. It’s not credible, and I think the euro crisis now looks to me to be, frankly, insoluble.
And there’s also a massive crisis of leadership – it is lovely to see you Mr Van Rompuy, you’ve not been here for many months. It’s delightful to have you back. The last time you were here, you told us we had turned the corner, that the worst of the crisis was over and with every one of your predictions it goes on getting worse.
I’m sorry Sir, you don’t have the presence, the credibility or the standing for the International markets to believe that you can provide a solution.
And Mr Barroso here at the G20, when he stood up at the press conference and said. ‘We don’t need any lessons in democracy,’ said the unelected President of the European Commission.
You went on to say that the Eurozone’s problems had been caused by unorthodox practices in North America. You’ve made yourselves an international laughing stock. You don’t have any credibility, but one piece of helpful advice from me – Don’t this summer go on any billionaire’s yachts on extended holidays because the markets guarantee we’ll all be back here in August.
Thank you.”
This time round Nigel gets applause’s