The UK could find itself stuck in Brussels for years with the Department for Brexit, involved in a negotiation about the right to negotiate, warns former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.
Extrovert Britain
Then there is the UK. You may have had every reason to dislike the EU and want to get out but you were mistaken. I will allude to a favourite song of mine from the Eagles: "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."
So you voted to check out of the EU so as to become global Britain, to be extrovert, to spend your energies looking outwards to China, India, Latin America and Africa.
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Instead, you are going to be stuck in Brussels for I do not know how many years with the Department for Brexit, involved in a negotiation about the right to negotiate.
They are going to have you bogged down in discussions that will go on for the next two years, before you even have an opportunity to establish any interim agreement that makes sense for business and for finance in this country in the long term.
This is why I was against Brexit.
And all of this at a time when Trump is embarking upon an irresponsible fiscal policy - and I say this as a left-winger - and a toxic policy towards China.
Remember what the Reagan administration did to the Japanese in 1985 with the Plaza Accord, from which Japan never really recovered after having been forced to revalue the yen?
This administration under Trump is going to do something like that.
So the irresponsible fiscal policy and the inimical stance towards China, while Europe is failing at the game of political coordination, is not the right time for Britain to be forcing itself to cosy up to Trump in order to distance itself from the EU.
This article is an edited version of a section of a speech Varoufakis gave in March 2017 at Artemis' investment roadshow in Scotland.
