Former IMF head says "intelligent" British pose a threat to entire European project and should leave quickly, despite the costs.
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The UK has always sought to undermine the European Union project since 1973 and should leave as soon as possible, according to former International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
"Since 1973, you can't say that the British have helped us much," he wrote in an editorial for French newspaper Les Echos. "Apart from a long period of Labour rule from 1997-2010, their actions have only aimed at slowing the European project, according to what they judge to be their interests. Without them, the Union today would have advanced much further, been much stronger and much more united."
The piece, entitled in English "I am a sad Brexiteer", the former French economy minister begins: "I have too much admiration for the intelligence and capacity of the British to underestimate the risk they pose to the European project..."
Having built an empire and won two world wars, the British have never managed to move beyond their nationalism, he wrote.
Strauss-Kahn, whose career at the IMF was ended by a sex scandal, was frequently rumoured to harbour an ambition to run for French president but did not put himself forward in the last election.