Nigel Farage insisted he was right over EU army warnings after military exercises involving nine European countries kicked off in Spain.
The GB News presenter highlighted comments by Remainer Nick Clegg during a TV debate in 2014 accusing him of peddling a “dangerous fantasy” after he claimed Brussels wanted its own army.
But Mr Farage said if the exercises in Spain are not an EU army then “I don’t know what is”.
Speaking on his GB News show, Mr Farage said: “Remember Nick Clegg said I was a dangerous fantasist forever suggesting there could be an EU army.
“Well as we speak 2,800 personnel are involved in an amphibious landing mission.
“This took place today, took place in Spain, and it’s under the EU Crisis Management Military Exercise 2023.
“There we are Mr Clegg eat your heart out. If that’s not an EU army I don’t know what is.”
Mr Farage’s comments come as a week-long exercise in southern Spain kicked off on Monday.
It involves 31 military units and 2,800 military personnel from nine EU countries.
Austrian General Robert Brieger, the EU Military Committee chairman, said the goal was to “enhance further the EU’s military readiness to respond to external conflicts and crises”.
The military exercises are the first lead by the EU independently of NATO.
Mr Farage, who was an MEP for more than two decades, long warned of an EU army.
During a heated BBC debate in 2014 on Britain’s future in the bloc, the Brexiteer said he did not want the UK to be part of an “expansionist” EU foreign policy and claimed Brussels wanted its own army and navy.
But Mr Clegg, who was the Lib Dem leader at the time, said it was a “dangerous fantasy that is simply not true”.
