Former London mayor Boris Johnson, who is leading the “Out” campaign ahead of Britain’s EU membership referendum, said in an interview that the bloc was following the path of former German leader Adolf Hitler and former French leader Napoleon Bonaparte by trying to create a European superstate.
Johnson told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that the EU lacks democracy and a unifying authority, and is doomed to fail.
“Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically,” Johnson was quoted as saying in an interview.
Photo: AP
“The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods, but, fundamentally, what is lacking is the eternal problem, which is that there is no underlying loyalty to the idea of Europe,” he said. “There is no single authority that anybody respects or understands. That is causing this massive democratic void.”
Johnson, who is a frontrunner to succeed British Prime Minister David Cameron, has emerged as the most important voice in the “Out” camp ahead of the June 23 referendum.
Cameron, who is leading the “In” campaign, has said that Britain’s membership of the EU makes the nation more secure, more influential and more prosperous.
He also said Britain, which is not part of the single-currency eurozone, would not be dragged into ever-closer union among the EU’s member states.
However, an opinion poll published earlier on Saturday suggested that twice the number of voters believed Johnson was more likely to tell the truth about the EU than Cameron.
With less than six weeks to go until the referendum, voters are evenly split between wanting to remain in the EU and preferring to leave, other opinion polls have shown.
In his interview, Johnson said he wants the British people to be “the heroes of Europe” again, creating echoes of the language used by former British prime minister Winston Churchill, the Sunday Telegraph said.
It also quoted him as saying that tensions between EU member states have allowed Germany to grow in power within the bloc, “take over” the Italian economy and “destroy” Greece.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft