I'm Greek and I'm sick of my country being used by Leave supporters to justify a self-harming hard Brexit

Yes, Greece is the victim of the Eurozone’s structural problems and rigid adherence to neoliberal doctrine – but Britain working within the EU could change the balance of power. Leaving won't solve anything

What's the real source of Greece's economic problems? (Reuters)

Even now, Greece – my native country –­ is still used by Leave supporters as an excuse to justify a self-harming Brexit.

Only on Sunday was Boris Johnson comparing Theresa May’s Chequers deal to the “humiliation” meted out to Greece by the EU. He may have had a point, if it wasn’t him and his party that have been against the regulation of the banking and financial sectors that created the 2010 economic crisis, and ideologically committed to the policies of austerity that have impoverished millions across Europe.

This is why when ‘Greece’ is presented as a one-word rationale for Britain leaving the EU, my first reaction is anger, followed by genuine puzzlement. This argument ignores firstly the neoliberal influence of Britain within the EU, and secondly, the fact that neoliberalism and austerity in Britain did not come from the EU but from successive national governments that promoted cuts, privatisation and the destruction of the welfare state. This makes every reference to Greece nothing more than a smokescreen.

In the case of Greece, these policies were imposed on the country as part of the financial rescue programme, the terms of which were decided to a large extent by the Eurogroup and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This is why the then Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has a lot to say about the Eurogroup and possibly this is why he is against Brexit. What is for sure: Britain does not belong to the Eurozone club, neither it is in negotiations with the IMF.

As government debt soared to 172 per cent of GDP in 2011, what was Greece supposed to do, according to Brexit supporters? “Go back to your national currency,” is the immediate response. But for those who think national currencies solve all economic ills, in the past week we have witnessed the Turkish example; even the Turkish lira, the currency of the largest emerging economy, cannot withstand an economic war.

“You should have left the EU,” Brexiteers also insist. And yet it is clear that they are far from recognising the political complexities that could follow, not least since we don’t have any precedent yet.

More often than not they fail to take into account that Greece was at the same time at the front line of receiving thousands of refugees and, despite my personal feelings towards Angela Merkel’s government, it is important to recognise that Germany in 2015 received 890,000 asylum applications. Would the borders have remained open if Greece was exiting the EU? It is doubtful, as this could have been another way to put pressure on Greece. There is not space here to explore how a bigger migration crisis would have affected the power dynamics of the region, but this is one of the myriad complications of Greece leaving the EU that Brexiteers blithely dismiss.

They risk falling into the same trap when discussing the UK’s departure from the EU: ignoring the existence of the other side which is meanwhile calculating how it can use the negotiating environment to advance its own interests.

So far, every Tory proposal has been nothing more than an attempt to appease an increasingly anxious public when it is destined to fail considering the EU’s red lines. The Brexiteers’ proposed solution to the Tory deadlock – the reversal to World Trade Organization rules in a catastrophic no-deal scenario – is too damaging for a sensible politician to even contemplate.

While some in the Tory government are trying to convince us that this is an unhitched process, Roberto Azevedo, the head of the WTO, explains that this will require the agreement by other member countries, some of which will use the opportunity to their advantage. The more astonishing thing is that the argument for no-deal is sometimes made by Eurosceptics on the left as well. As if there is a collective memory loss regarding the role of WTO as an organisation promoting economic competition, widening the gap between wealthy and developing countries, offering no protection to either labour or the environment.

So, please, stop using Greece as a justification for your ill-conceived arguments. The reality of Brexit is that the British people are about to lose a lot and gain nothing. The EU is in need of urgent reform but, as everyone with experience in negotiations knows, it is a bad idea to give up your rights on the basis of vague promises. In every negotiation you have to retain what you already have in order to make further gains: exactly the opposite of what Britain is about to do, in a delirium of self-harming arrogance.

As for Greece, the victim of the Eurozone’s structural problems and rigid adherence to neoliberal doctrine, it is true that Britain simply staying in a status-quo EU is not going to change these conditions. But Britain with a Labour government, working within the EU, could change the balance of power towards a more social – even socialist – Europe. That could mean a lot for Greece and all countries hit by the crisis.