Nigel Farage the European Parliament he had received a total of £2 million of taxpayers' money in staff, travel, and other expenses. In response, Farage said that in future all UKIP MEPs would provide monthly expense details. After the speech of Herman Van Rompuy on 24 February 2010 to the European Parliament, Farage – to protests from other MEPs – addressed the former Belgian Prime Minister and first long-term President of the European Council saying that he had the "charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of low grade bank clerk". Farage questioned the legitimacy of Van Rompuy's appointment, asking, "Who
Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, 2009 Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, 2009 Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union (short:Czech Presidency of EU) occurred in the first half of 2009. On 1 January 2009, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek became the President of the Council of the European Union. When Topolánek's cabinet lost a vote of no-confidence, he was replaced by Jan Fischer on 8 May 2009. Presidency went over to Sweden on 1 July 2009. Priorities had been formulated since 2007. It included Energetics, countries of Easter Europe and elections of European offices. Important priorities were three Big E