Helena Smith
The Guardian
January 20, 2014
As unlikely as it might once have seemed, the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, is being hailed as a hero in Greece after an extraordinary outburst against the Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaras, in the European parliament last week.
In a departure from the contempt usually reserved for foreigners criticising their country, Greeks from across the political spectrum have welcomed the Briton’s savage dressing down of Samaras – just as he was savouring the glory of crisis-plagued Athens assuming the rotating EU presidency.
“You come here, Mr Samaras, and tell us that you represent the ‘sovereign will of the Greek people’. Well, I am sorry but you are not in charge of Greece, and I suggest you rename and rebrand your party,” railed Farage last week as Samaras, slumped in his seat, looked on haplessly. “It is called New Democracy; I suggest you call it No Democracy because Greece is now under foreign control. You can’t make any decisions, you have been bailed out and you have surrendered democracy, the thing your country invented in the first place.”
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