'You're not laughing now': Nigel Farage booed at EU general assembly
Independence Party leader and Brexit advocate predicts Britain will not be only country to leave EU
Nigel Farage, the leader of the anti-EU U.K. Independence Party, says that the British "now offer a beacon of hope" to the rest of the European continent" after they voted to leave the European Union last week.
Speaking to the EU general assembly in Brussels Tuesday, Farage predicted that "the U.K. will not be the last member state to leave the European Union." In the wake of last Thursday's vote, opposition parties in the Netherlands, France and Finland have already called for similar votes on whether to stay or leave the EU.
Farage said that he wanted out negotiations to start swiftly but insisted that "even no deal is better for the United Kingdom than the current rotten deal that we got."
Farage was booed and jeered when he urged the EU to give Britain a good trade deal when it leaves, saying that jobs in Germany's auto sector might be at stake if it didn't.
"Isn't it funny, you know, when I came here 17 years ago, and I said that I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the European Union, you all laughed at me. Well I have to say, you're not laughing now are you?" he asked.
Hungary vows to stay
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says his country is committed to remain a member of the European Union despite Britain's departure but is warning that Europe must get migration under control.
Orban told reporters at an EU summit Tuesday that "if the EU cannot solve the migration situation, then the challenges we experienced now in the case of the United Kingdom, will grow."
He said countries like Hungary, which has taken a hard line against the arrival of migrants, "are criticized instead of being recognized and supported."
Orban said: "This is a bad policy."