Some UKIP members are 'hooligans' - claims ECR vice-president
by Justin Stares
Britain's United Kingdom Independence Party – or UKIP as it now prefers to be known - is full of "hooligans" and "bar fighters", alleged a vice president of one of the European Parliament's political groups on Tuesday. Some of UKIP's Eurosceptic MEPs "are against everything in the European Union apart from the money and the allowances they get themselves," according to Derk-Jan Eppink MEP, vice-president of the European Conservatives and Reformists - the group that is home to Britain's Conservative Party MEPs.
Talking at a conference organised by the Association of European Journalists - Eppink, a former journalist and one-time European Commission cabinet member, gave UKIP's Brussels contingent both barrels. It was important for people know "what they are like", he claimed. "If they get drunk they get very dangerous," was one of the allegations he put to a gathering at the Brussels Press Club. "They present themselves as white knights but they are not." If UKIP MEPs did any work, it was usually "appalling", he alleged.
British Eurosceptics often did not bother to turn up at committees or parliament plenary sessions. Centre-right parties have on occasion been "one or two votes short of stopping the left" in key votes that were lost because UKIP MEPs were "not there", it was said. And UKIP was a party of "vox-pop politicians" with "no grassroots support", Eppink claimed when continuing his diatribe. Eurosceptics took European funding and "funnelled it into their party", he added, and UKIP's parliamentary members often flitted between parties or found themselves "investigated" – he suggested.
Debating Europe with UKIP supporters often turned into an "aggressive" exchange involving "abusive language", said Eppink. "They are sort of hooligans," he told the gathering "apart from Nigel Farage" - the UKIP leader. And UKIP supporters, and British Eurosceptics in general, were "hard to convince with facts and figures", said Eppink - a Dutchman who has crossed over into Belgian politics. "A positive agenda is very hard to sell," he said. A problem he predicted would face British Prime Minister David Cameron if and when he campaigned for the UK to remain in the EU ahead of a referendum.
Eppink's venting of the spleen seemed to have been fuelled in part by what he described as "a very unpleasant dinner" in the UK that descended into a shouting match with a British academic. "I discovered afterwards that he was linked to UKIP," Eppink said. He often travelled to Britain at the invitation of British Tory MEPs in the ECR group, he said, visiting towns such as Nottingham "where I would never go as a tourist".
The Tories in the ECR group were almost all in favour of remaining in the 27-member bloc, he claimed; citing both personal contacts and Twitter feeds as evidence. Only Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan was likely to vote for the UK to withdraw, he predicted. Cameron's Europe speech earlier this month was, in Eppink's opinion, an attempt to regain ground lost to UKIP. The British PM was "asking questions other leaders were afraid to ask", he said, such as whether Europe could continue with its current "one size fits all" approach; or whether it should adopt a more flexible ŕ la carte formation.
A piecemeal approach to European integration was in reality already taking shape, he pointed out. In addition to the Schengen free movement area, the eurozone, and the various opt-outs enjoyed by countries such as the UK, Denmark and Ireland - Brussels law-makers were increasingly resorting to "enhanced cooperation"; a process by which a group of nine or more member states can forge ahead with laws of their own. "Without flexibility the EU will not work," said Eppink, who described himself as a Euroscepetic in Brussels but a Europhile in the UK.
Issuing a strong rebuttal to Eppink's criticism of UKIP, party spokesman Gawain Towler said: "I wonder if Mr Eppink's speech was made 'after lunch'. It seems a little intemperate. UKIP of course is not in the European Parliament to tinker round the edges but to work to get the UK out of the EU. That Cameron has offered a referendum is a small victory, that Dirk-Jan believes that 24 out of 25 Tory MEPs will vote to stay in the EU, rather makes our point about that party."
Eppink became a well-known figure in Brussels following the success of his book Life of a European Mandarin, which lifted the lid on the workings of the European Commission. In it, he describes the shenanigans of lobbyists and officials - and underlines the extent to which key decisions are made out of the public eye. He served in the cabinets of former Dutch Commissioner Frits Bolkestein and Siim Kallas, the current European Transport Commissioner.
The anti-EU Conservatives really believe the way to tackle UKIP is to fight them on their own territory but they are mistaken - writes Mary Honeyball MEP
And Schulz, Verhofstadt et al are all nice little pussy cats - right?
Getusout - Birmingham, England
Certain British Eurosceptics are 'dangerous when drunk', claims an ally of David Cameron's Conservative Party in Brussels. Most EU Europhiles are dangerous when sober.
Getusout - Birmingham, England
Self-serving rubbish. Who pays to produce this? Voluntary subs from public sector workers? Hmm, probably not.
Evans - London
More good publicity for my party UKIP. People like Eppink, though intelligent, just don't seem to have any common sense. By attacking our party, it shows he and his Euro cronies are afraid and are grasping at straws with this diatribe.
Frank Keefe - UK
It is the same old Tory message: "In Europe, not run by Europe". Folk don't have to be fooled.
Jason Barker - Bedford
What's the problem with Nottingham? I was there last year and the people were welcoming and friendly a real nice bunch of decent people. Typical that the Tories are in bed with haters of good decent Britsh people.
Fred McGlade - Lancaster
He would say that.
Mark Thompson - Kettering, England
What is Eppink wrong with him?
Frank Keefe - UK
Cheap and nasty abuse - I am definitely voting UKIP. What's wrong with Nottingham? It is associated with Robin Hood and the little guys who believe in freedom and taking on the big guys - the bullies, the oppressors. Nothing changes.
Slickmick - Toronto
It's a simple choice. Vote LibLabCon to stay in the EU-SSR or vote UKIP to leave the EU-SSR.
Rod - London
Every time some EU politician opens their mouth attacking the UK, UKIP and democracy it serves to increase UKIP's support. So keep ranting guys. We're coming for you.
Pete Hodge - Up Holland, United Kingdom
That is because the British hate the EU and we treat it with the contempt it deserves. Britons consider the EU an occupying power. Wait until the next European elections, when the majority of UK MEPS elected will come from UKIP.
EuropeansR - Great Britain
When are you Europeans going to accept the fact that we Britons detest the EU? We would rather be part of the US, than part of the EU. Nigel Farage is a hero on these shores.
Willepete - London
As a proud member of UKIP, I can assure you I am not a hooligan. It's the unelected EU Marxists that are hooligans for destroying our great nation.
Lewis Tivey - Staffordshire, United Kingdom
I would hesitate to call the European Parliament a parliament. They cannot even write or introduce legislation, so there is no point to even show up. That isn't a fair criticism.
graha - Inveress
I agree, the UK cannot cherry pick. I think we can try to fight from within to make Europe efficient, including less regulations. The only problem is we have been doing so for the past 40 years, and it is now costing peoples jobs and liberties.
It is time that people had a choice to stay or leave, and break free from the shackles of Europe. Euro cronies are now showing their true undemocratic colours by denying people the right to decide their own countries' future.
No name supplied
The main danger to the UK are not UKIP MEPs with a few drinks in them but Cameron, Clegg, Miliband and most of their cronies when they are sober.
Cecil Andrews - Northern Ireland
You know they're considered a threat when this sort of comment is offered. Don't bother addressing their arguments, just smear the people who make them.
Sheumais - UK
These little Eurocrats are rather cocksure of themselves, arent they? Without £50m a day coming from the UK, they might not be so arrogant
Dan - Belfast
This kind of vacuous tripe is indicative of just how worried by UKIP's continued rise in popularity these imbeciles are. They cannot counter our arguments or policies with anything remotely credible or coherent, so resort to primary school name-calling.
Utterly pathetic and completely beneath contempt. That this is a group to which Cameron's Tories belong is also thoroughly unsurprising.
Aelfred Wantage UKIP - UKIP referendum now
There's bound to be 'hooligan' members in any political party, it will take a whole lot more than that to stop me voting for UKIP.
Hodson - England
Keep it going people, they are becoming more and more scared of UKIP by the day.
Over there
My, my, judging by the comments Mr Eppink has touched a nerve.They all sound as if they need to get out more and open their eyes to the real world.
Underneath the rhetoric, he has a very valid point: what does UKIP actually stand for? Do they have any policies beyond negativity? And who are these people who purport to represent us?
They certainly don't seem to have anyone that can be trusted to appear in the media, apart from uncle Nigel who pops up on Question Time virtually every week; and manages to get away with streams of questionable statistics.
He manages to exemplify precisely what is being talked about. If they get shown up, they turn nasty. All very well for a night out at the pub but actually in charge of anything? Would you buy a used car from them?
Laundryend - Shropshire,UK
The UK economy was built upon sucking blood from its colonies. Its industrial revolution led to forceful immigration to the UK. People from colonies were forced to work free or cheap.
The UK built its infrastructure robbing nations like India. The Indian state had a better growth before British invasion. The robbed money is almost finished on wasteful chavs.
The UK is finding it difficult to rob other nations' (Iraq, Iran and Libya) resources in these educated modern times.
Big brother want bigger share and is throwing few crumbs to David Cameron. I fear for the future of chav children. The UK will be broken soon if they don't invade another nation soon. Reality sounds harsh my Brits. All the best in Syria. Good luck Brits.
Chavez - UKIP
