Former Greek minister has stated that the EU has turned into a military alliance.
“Elchi” reports that the European Union has abandoned its founding ideals and turned itself into a military alliance. Economist and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis stated this in a podcast on the British UnHerd portal.
The former minister stated that his views on the European Union changed after the UK’s Brexit referendum in 2016. In his opinion, the EU has become less democratic over time than it was then.
“In 2016, when I reluctantly supported [Great Britain’s] membership in the EU, there was still a small hope that the European Union could strengthen, democratize and become a benevolent force in its region. But the opposite happened. What started as a peace project has turned into a military alliance,” he noted.
According to Varoufakis, the EU’s single market is now “just a name” and the union’s Green Deal has lost its relevance and remains a “product of imagination” of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Varoufakis also added that European leaders have “no plan” for peace in Ukraine.
In September 2025, Varoufakis called Ursula von der Leyen a “crazy war criminal”.
On February 14, von der Leyen stated that the European Union should apply Article 42.7 of the Treaty on European Union, which concerns mutual defense and obliges EU countries to defend each other in the event of aggression.
Also, The Guardian journalist Paul Taylor recently noted that Europe should have a new military structure that can make timely decisions against aggression, and a “coalition of volunteers” regarding Ukraine can provide this.
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