The bullying EU

The EU is a bully, according to Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister, in an interview with this newspaper. Mr Varoufakis might be a socialist and this is, of course, his personal opinion, but much of what he tells us has been confirmed in the last week by the EU’s actions.

Mr Varoufakis says that the EU will exploit any internal political friction in the UK. As if on cue, Donald Tusk has implied that the future of Ireland must be on the table in the coming Brexit talks. This is absurd. It is in everyone’s interests to address the border issues arising from Brexit, but the sovereignty of Northern Ireland is a matter internal to the UK, or else a bilateral question between London and Dublin.

Mr Varoufakis also warns that the EU will drown negotiations in the minutiae of the so-called divorce – the price of which keeps going up. The EU is now expanding its financial settlement to include “political” commitments, such as assistance to refugees. The goal is to waste Britain’s energy fighting one battle in the hope that it will surrender the wider war. The only way to avoid this is to assert the strength of Britain’s position and the possibility of walking away without a deal.

Ultimately, the UK can afford to do that because it is not Greece. Greece was debt-ridden and desperate to stay in the EU; Britain is wealthy and heading towards the exit, regardless of the outcome of these talks. The Government must make it clear that it will not cave in to threats. And those Britons who still support EU membership must ask themselves this: why remain in an organisation that treats its poorest and richest members so badly?