The Telegraph — A German MEP in an article published in The Times claims that the chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier is out to punish Britain.
Hans-Olaf Henkel, a member of the small Liberal Conservative Reformers (LKR) party and a former president of the Federation of German Industries, urged the UK “not to listen” to Michel Barnier and Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator.
Henkel wrote:
As they consider this matter, I would urge [MEPs] not to listen to Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator, or even Michel Barnier, Europe’s chief negotiator, who I am afraid want to make a mess out of this whole unhappy situation.
Mr Verhofstadt is an ambitious politician who wants to achieve a United States of Europe. In my view, he is responsible in no small part for the disaster of Brexit. It was his attitude, not typical of most of us in Brussels, that allowed Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson to whip up anti-EU sentiment in the UK.
Mr Verhofstadt now wants to punish the British, full stop. He says he doesn’t want to, but I’m afraid he does. My impression is that Mr Barnier wants to do the same. The reason is simple. They would seek to make sure that Brexit is such a catastrophe that no country dares to take the step of leaving the EU again.
Henkel’s comments come as EU and UK officials engage in a third day of talks in Brussels as the two sides seek to hammer out the terms of Britain’s divorce deal.
