“This is petty, small-minded little England at its worst."
The European Parliament opened for business on Tuesday following elections and British MEPs have been accused of being “embarrassing” Brits abroad as cross-party protests took place.
29 MEPs from the Brexit party, including Nigel Farage, faced the most backlash as they at first refused to stand for the parliament’s opening ceremony anthem, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, and then turned their backs to the parliament when they were asked to stand out of respect.
Farage claimed that the move was “cheerfully defiant” and carried out to make their “presence felt”.
However, European parliament president, Antonio Tajani deemed the action disrespectful
“[It] is a question of respect; it doesn’t mean that you necessarily share the views of the European Union. If you listen to the anthem of another country you rise to your feet,” Tajani said.
On Twitter, Labour MP David Lammy said that the MEPs were doing “their best to isolate the UK from the world.
“This is petty, small-minded little England at its worst. These plonkers do a proud and open nation a disservice. Shame on them,” he added.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat MEPs donned sunshine yellow t-shirts with the slogans “stop Brexit” and “b******s to Brexit”.
Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies denied accusations that the slogan was “unparliamentary”.
“It’s amazing how well b******s to Brexit translates into 24 different languages,” he said.
Both stunts were described as “crass” by political commentator Kevin Maguire, who added that the protests painted Britain to look like “a country of rude morons”.
Despite the “embarrassing” protests, many MEPs have been getting to work straight away and are taking to Twitter to shine some light on what MEPs actually do, and what they hope to achieve in the next four months before Brexit potentially happens.
Alexandra Phillips, an MEP for the Green Party said in a video on Twitter that she’s diving headfirst into work.
“I don’t know whether I’m going to be an MEP for four months or for five years,” she said. “So I’m hitting the ground running with a Green New Deal that would create a huge amount of jobs for people in the southeast, it would lower their fuel bills and crucially it would contribute to tackling the climate crisis.”
Labour MEP Julie Ward added that she’s focusing on culture and education, women’s, children, and LGBTQI+ equality and rights.
“Over the next five years, I am here working for you and working towards a fairer more prosperous, equal and safer Europe,” Ward said.
Meka Beresford is a freelance journalist. Follow her on Twitter.
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13 Responses to “First day on the job: MEPs dubbed as ’embarrassing’ Brits abroad”
Patrick Newman
According to Paul Mason the German Nazi Party made a similar demonstration in the Reichstag in the Thirties. Not a country but an EU contingent of crass morons. It is not the fault of the EU that UK people voted to leave. Imagine what it would be like if the Brexit Party got a foothold in the House of Commons – especially the balance of power – parliamentary business would be all but impossible. A coalition with the Tories? – Ann Widdecombe as Justice Secretary sentence first verdict later – I like it that way. Nigel Farage as Secretary for Health!!
Tom Sacold
Our Labour MEPs should have done the same. Not stand up for the anthem of the neo-liberal capitalist superstate.
steve
Is the EU worthy of respect?
Just reflect on what the EU did to the Greek people.
As Yanis Varoufakis put it:
“Having put Greece into a permanent coma, EU-IMF declared it “stability”. They pushed our people off a cliff & celebrated their bounce off the hard rock of a great depression as proof of “recovery”. To quote Tacitus, they made a desert and called it peace.”
Julia Gibb
The U.K. Is not a country. It is a Union very like the EU.
The flag signifies aggression and occupancy by force, suppression of identity by force. The National Anthem is recognised by few in Scotland. The objection to the EU anthem and flag proves the hypocrisy of the BritNat mindset.
The other key point – this is the people that the left of the Labour Party are aligning with.
Rod
Julia Gibb – ggod points. Unlike the UK, the EU is a voluntary union of states. It isn’t a neo-liberal superstate. As for your other key point – the part of the left of the Labour Party you mention is deeply reactionary and almost as BritNat as the Farigists.