Yanis Varoufakis has compared the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal to something a defeated nation would be forced to sign.
The former Greek finance minister did not hit back when he laid the blame for the current impasse firmly at the door of Theresa May .
Speaking on Question Time Mr Varoufakis said: “Whether you are a Brexiteer or a Remainer a nation signs only after having been defeated at war.
“This is not a deal which is built for purpose for any sovereign country.”
The former politician hit the headlines after he refused to accept the bailout terms of the EU for Greece because it would mean his country having to adopt measures of austerity during his time as the country’s finance minister.
Mr Varoufakis said of the negotiations: “First she triggered Article 50 on the basis of red lines which boxed her in to an impossibility.
“And secondly, and that is a crime against logic, she failed to recognise that Michel Barnier when he announced the two phase negotiation process was issuing a declaration of hostilities against the government.
“She never even saw this coming because if I come to you and say ‘listen let’s have a little negotiation first you’re going to give me everything I want, secondly we will discuss that which you want’ – clearly you will say no.”
Later on in the programme when Labour’s Jenny Chapman said she could not vote for the Withdrawal Agreement which Theresa May is bringing on its own on Friday in the hope it is more likely to pass then her deal in its entirety.
Ms Chapman said she was being asked to sign up to a divorce without knowing , Mr Varoufakis said that it wasn’t even a divorce.
Ms Chapman agreed describing it as a “decree nisi”.
To which the former Greek finance minister said: “Yes because you don’t even know if you’re going to get visiting rights to see the children”.
In the extensive discussion on Brexit
