The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Letters to the editor
UK should learn from experience of Greece
Sir, - With Brexit negotiations about to begin in the shadow of a hung parliament, the advice of the former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis comes to mind.
This spring he gave the stark advice - Britain should “avoid negotiating with Brussels at all costs”.
Mr Varoufakis knows what he is talking about, as he was finance minister for the Syriza government in 2015 and in that role had to negotiate with the European Union and the IMF over the extension of Greece’s debts.
The terms offered were so harsh that the Greek government campaigned successfully for a no vote in the July 2015 referendum on the terms of a further bailout.
He resigned immediately after the vote when the Greek prime minister revealed to him that he intended to betray the referendum result.
Mr Varoufakis is also an expert on game theory and its application to economic systems. If anyone knows how to conduct high-stakes negotiations, it should be him.
It is also worth reflecting on the dire state of Greek society and the Greek economy after three rounds of bailouts by the EU over the last eight years.
Unemployment is still at 23%, and since 2011, more than 300,000 young people have emigrated to find work out of a total population of only 11 million.
That a man such as Mr Varoufakis advises us that to negotiate with the EU is “to fall into the trap” should give us cause to stop and reconsider the manner of our leaving the EU.
Otto Inglis. 6 Inveralmond Grove, Edinburgh.