Ex-UKIP head Farage would take Merkel over Schulz

BERLIN – Former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, whose party helped bring about the British decision to leave the European Union, says he’d prefer the next German government be led by Chancellor Angela Merkel than her main challenger Martin Schulz, but that he’s “not a big fan of either.”

Speaking at a rally of the nationalist Alternative for Germany party on Friday ahead of the Sept. 24 election, Farage called Schulz, a former European Parliament president, a “pro-EU fanatic” who’d “put the interests of Brussels” first in Brexit negotiations.

Merkel, he says, “in terms of current contemporary European leaders, has more authority than all the rest.”

He says “she’s made some pretty big, major historical errors herself but I think Mrs. Merkel is more likely to listen to the voice of German industry and listen to the voice of German workers.”