The man tipped to be President Donald J. Trump’s ambassador to the European Union (EU) has compared the bloc to the Soviet Union, before insinuating he wants to help bring it down as had been done with the Soviet Union.
Professor Ted Malloch, a former Oxford University professor now at the University of Reading, was being questioned on the BBC’s This Week programme on Thursday night.
“I mean you’re clearly not a great fan of Brussels or these bureaucrats like [European Commission President] Juncker,” asked presenter Andrew Neil.
“Well, I had in a previous year a diplomatic post where I helped to bring down the Soviet Union, so maybe there’s another union that needs a little taming,” responded Prof. Malloch.
He also explained his president’s Eurosceptic views in the course of the programme.
“He [President Trump] doesn’t like an organisation that is supranational, that is unelected, where the bureaucrats run amok, and is not frankly a proper democracy,” Prof. Malloch said.
The Trump-supporter’s views mark a stark contrast with those of the departing U.S. ambassador to the EU, Anthony Gardner, who earlier this month said it would be a mistake for the U.S. to support fragmentation of the EU.
“For us to be encouraging Brexit is the height of folly,” Mr. Gardner told the Politico website.
Speaking to the BBC programme 100 Days last night, Malloch corrected presenter Christian Fraser when he asked whether Britain really would be at the front of the queue for trade deals, remarking: “no, I think you’re at the very front. And that’s proven by the visit [of Theresa May] that’s going to take place tomorrow”.
The professor also predicted nations other than the United Kingdom could walk away from the European Union, although he stopped short of saying whether the Trump administration would favour the end of the EU. Regardless, the academic said the United States would be ready to sign trade deals with European nations as and when they liberated themselves.
Prof. Malloch has a history of making strongly anti-EU remarks. In an interview with the BBC on the 12th of January, he predicted the euro “could collapse” in the next 18 months.
“I think it is a currency that is not only in demise but has a real problem and could in fact collapse in the coming year, year and a half… The one thing I would do in 2017 is short the euro,” he said.
Adding: “I am not the only person or economist of that point of view. Someone as acclaimed as Joseph Stiglitz – the World Bank economist – has written an entire book on this subject.”
In the interview, he also echoed former UKIP leader Nigel Farage’s claim that the UK and U.S. could negotiate a trade deal in just 90 days after Brexit with the right attitude.
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