**A British Eurosceptic MEP has unleashed a volley of insults against EU President Herman van Rompuy.**Nigel Farage, of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), said Mr Van Rompuy had “the charisma of a damp rag”.
His comments were made before a shocked chamber in Brussels as the newly appointed EU president made his first appearance before the parliament.
He compared the former Belgian prime minister to a “low-grade bank clerk” and said he came from a “non-country”.
“Who are you I’d never heard of you, nobody in Europe had ever heard of you,” Mr Farage thundered as noisy disapproval at his intervention in the chamber rose.
“I have no doubt that your intention is to be the quiet assassin of European democracy and of European nation states”
Nigel Farage, British MP from UK Independence Party
“Oh, I know democracy is not popular with you lot,” he said, addressing the members of parliament as they voiced their surprise.
Mr Farage - known for his outspoken interventions - did, however, admit that he thought Mr Van Rompuy was “competent and capable”, adding that this made him “dangerous”.
“I have no doubt that your intention is to be the quiet assassin of European democracy and of European nation states,” he said.
Mr Farage’s party, UKIP, campaigns for the withdrawal of Britain from the European Union.
“You seem to have a loathing for the very concept of the existence of nation states,” he continued, adding: “Perhaps that’s because you come from Belgium, which is pretty much a non-country.”
Mr Van Rompuy, 62, was chosen unanimously by the governments of the EU’s 27 member states to take on the role of the first permanent European Council president.
Described as camera-shy and sometimes given the nickname the “grey mouse”, he is seen as a coalition builder, credited for steering linguistically divided Belgium out of crisis.