Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström slammed UK politicians for Brexit, saying she cannot “forgive” them for allowing the British people to vote to leave the European Union.
Wallström made her comments this week during a conference on foreign policy in the Finnish capital of Helsinki saying that the British political class had created a problem not just for the UK but for countries across Europe as well, Politico reports.
“I cannot forgive them for this,” she said and added, “I just think that they’ve made such a historical mistake and they’ve really created a problem for all of us,” saying that the Brexit referendum and subsequent result had been badly handled.
“You know what? This is because of bad political leadership since a very long time in the UK I saw with all my years from the European Commission… there was nobody who would defend their [UK] EU membership,” the minister noted and added that she did not believe the referendum should have taken place saying, “You should not promise referenda if you don’t prepare them properly.”
The controversial comments are just the latest from the Social Democrat who, last year, told Professor Jordan Peterson to “crawl back under the rock he came from,” following a visit to Sweden by the noted Canadian psychologist and author.
The proponent of a feminist foreign policy has also garnered criticism from the Hungarian government after she tweeted a comment directed against the Hungarians and the populist Italian government.
“I just read today that Viktor Orbán in Hungary and Matteo Salvini in Italy want to form an alliance against ‘the democrats and the left’ in Europe, naming Macron as their main opponent,” she said and added, “I have one thing to say to them: bring it on.”
The comment led Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó to summon the Swedish ambassador and comment that the tweet was “a new attack on Hungary by the pro-immigration Swedish government.”
Along with Hungary, Wallström also received severe backlash from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2016 after she demanded an investigation into Israeli forces she accused of killing Palestinians.
“I think what the Swedish foreign minister said is outrageous, I think it’s immoral, it’s unjust and it’s just wrong,” Netanyahu said and added, “It’s outrageous, it’s immoral and it’s stupid.”