A Finnish Eurosceptic MEP has said that the UK will “triumph” outside of the EU and said the next decade will see the revival of national sovereignty in Europe.
Speaking ahead of the vote on the Brexit deal in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday, Laura Huhtasaari of the Eurosceptic Finns Party said: “It’s the final countdown. Friday will be a glorious day for the United Kingdom!
“Brexit is the victory of the common British people against multinational corporations, special interests, and other elites.”
The former Finnish parliamentary MP and 2018 presidential candidate continued: “The 2020s is the decade when the national state makes the ultimate comeback in Europe. The supranational, unaccountable bureaucracy will be rolled back in favour of real democracy at national level.
“Britain will triumph outside of the EU. The island nation began a shining movement that cannot be stopped.”
Ms Huhtasaari’s predictions go against the received wisdom from senior figures in the European Union. Earlier during the parliamentary session, leading MEP and ardent federalist Guy Verhofstadt claimed that the lesson the EU has to learn from Brexit is not less Europe, but more Europe, including taking away even more autonomy from member-states.
The Belgian had said: “This lesson, dear colleagues, is not to undo the union, as some are arguing. The lesson is to deeply reform the union. To make a real union in the coming years.
“That means a union without opt-ins, opt-outs, rebates, exceptions, and above all without unanimity rules and veto rights.”
Ms Huhtasaari paid tribute to her Eurosceptic colleagues, addressing Nigel Farage’s party and saying in her closing remarks: “Farewell to the Brexit Party. I love you guys!”
Earlier, fellow Eurosceptic MEP Jaak Madison, from Estonia’s Conservative People’s Party, remarked on Britain’s economic future outside of the EU, saying: “Last week, the IMF [International Monetary Fund] was proposing that the UK economy will grow in the next two years after Brexit faster than the Eurozone’s economy.
“So that means that all those Remainers were lying that the UK’s economy would crash. They were lying.”
Mr Madison continued: “If the UK is growing faster than the EU, it means that the EU is doing something very wrong. If we are so successful, why are we so slow and they are so fast?”
The European Parliament passed the Brexit deal 621 to 49 ( 13 abstentions).
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