Eurofanatic Verhofstadt Warms Up For EU Elections With Anti-Populist Video

The European Union’s Brexit coordinator has released a fresh attack on populists he claims are working to destroy Europe, telling viewers they should be proud to call themselves Europeans in the run up to the bloc’s May elections.

Speaking from the European Parliament, loyal Euro-federalist Guy Verhofstadt continued his personal campaign against Euroscepticism in a video where he attacked what he called populists for wanting to “destroy Europe”.

Calling on voters to not send the continent back to the “darkest days of European history” — presumably thinking of Germany’s Third Reich when he said it, Verhofstadt said he wanted voters to be proud Europeans. Building a common European identity has long been a key aim of the EU which, critics say, is marching towards becoming a single superstate in its own right.

Verhofstadt said: “Right-wing populists and nationalists want you to believe that you only have one identity, that you have to choose between regional, national, and European identity. We say no. We say you are free to choose. You can be proud of your national, or regional identity, and at the same time of your European identity. We say we are proud Europeans, too.

“In this year, Europe will hold important European elections. We are standing against the nationalists who want to destroy the unity of Europe. Let’s reform Europe, instead of destroying it.”

It is perhaps of little surprise that Euro-loyalist Verhofstadt is on the offensive in the run-up to the European elections in May, given new polling shows populist parties are due to grow to their highest level of support ever.

Verhofstadt’s slavishly loyal pursuit of ever-closer Union is a matter of public record, with senior German politician Hans-Olaf Henkel who said of the in 2017 in the context of Brexit that the Belgian is “ambitious politician who wants to achieve a United States of Europe” and who wanted to “punish the British, full stop” for daring to leave the European Union.

Showing his clear contempt, earlier this month Verhofstadt predicted that Conservative Brexiteers in Britain would be heading to the guillotine — “So that’s important to remind [them].”

Apart from the British voting public, another target for Verhofstadt’s ire is the unashamedly populist leader of Hungary Viktor Orban. Enjoying a greater mandate than any other European head of government, Mr Orban has even been the subject of a poster campaign by Guy Verhofstadt, who claimed “first he took out money, now he wants to destroy Europe.”

Viktor Orban replied in kind, launching his own poster mocking him for denying there was a migrant crisis. Mr Guy Verhofstadt said in response that the Hungarian poster was “disgusting” and reminded him of “the darkest days in European history”, perhaps a favourite phrase deployed when referring to his least favourite people.

Warning that the next EU chief commissioner would, he hoped, he faster to respond to countries with nationalist governments, Mr Verhofstadt said Hungary and allied nation Poland had been “playing with fire.”

Oliver JJ Lane is the editor of Breitbart London — Follow him on Twitter and Facebook