Nigel Farage, on behalf of the EFDD Group. – Mr President, I say to Mr Kurz: at least we’ve got somebody in this Chamber who believes in the Judeo-Christian culture of Europe, which makes a very welcome change. So perhaps you understand why the EU’s asylum policy has been the complete disaster that it is, as citizens look on at changes in their communities that none of them ever asked for. But I think it is unfair that everyone is blaming Ms Merkel for this. Credit is due, I think, to the man on my left, Jean-Claude Juncker, it was he that opened the doors back in 2015 to a million people crossing the Mediterranean. So I think credit really is due to Mr Juncker for this catastrophe.

And as borders and walls are being constructed all over Europe, isn’t it about time that everybody here faced a couple of realities? The Schengen area is a theoretical concept that now needs to be dismantled and that the total free movement of people within the European Union, especially in an age of terrorism, is something that voters will not allow to continue. This, folks, is why Brexit happened. Nations want to be responsible for their own actions and not to pay the price of the mistakes of others – I think the Italian elections show you this.

And now in an attempt to survive, Ms Merkel is going to set up detention centres in the south of Germany, exactly the same policy put in place by Donald J. Trump in America. You all screamed at Trump. Will you scream at Merkel? How can you expect people who caused the problems to solve them? The old order is being swept away, and with it, Mr Verhofstadt, the vision of a united states of Europe is dying, thankfully, before our eyes.

(Applause)