Professor Varoufakis, a staunch critic of the EU, believes Brussels’ handling of the recent independence crisis in Catalonia revealed more cracks in the bloc’s reactions to major issues on the continent.
Figures from the Catalan department of health show almost 1,000 people sought medical treatment on the day of Catalonia’s independence vote, while 75 required treatment in the days that followed.
Spanish police were pictured using batons and rubber bullets against voters in a bid to disrupt the banned referendum, and the EU’s unwillingness to condemn the violence prompted an angry response from thousands across Europe.
Prof Varoufakis, who resigned from his position in July 2015 following repeated clashes with the EU over Greece’s financial crisis, has hit out at Brussels’ “hypocritical” response.
He said: “It is hypocritical for Europe to say that police violence against people who are going to vote is not a European issue.
“Just as it is idiotic to say that the European Union is a union of States and not of origins of people, because that is the best argument of the pro-independence movement to have a state.
“If we had a proper EU, it would not matter if Catalonia became independent.”
He described the EU’s actions as being “like damaging the brakes of a car and driving very fast” as he blasted the eurozone.
Prof Varoufakis said: “The way they responded to the inevitable crisis of the euro: they broke a glass and put the broken pieces under a rug, that’s what happened in 2010 with the crisis.
“In Greece, ridiculous decisions were made. Greeks were bankrupt, so what did Europe do?
“Give us the biggest loan in history, we did not have to pay off the old loans, but we had to pay the new ones.”
He concluded: “It was cynicism to pay the banks.”
Speaking earlier this year, Mr Varoufakis urged Theresa May to avoid negotiating with the EU “at all costs”.
Prof Varoufakis, who spent months battling the debt collection policies of the EU-IMF Troika during Greece’s financial crisis, warned Brussels would exploit political divisions within Britain to reduce the chance of getting a fair Brexit deal.
He warned: “You won’t always know exactly who to talk to and that is deliberate.
“When you make a moderate proposal, they will react with blank stares and look at you as if you were reciting the Swedish National Anthem. It is their way of stonewalling. They will suddenly suspend talks claiming the need for more fact-checking.”
“What they are trying to do is to reduce any benefit that Theresa May will get out of the election and downplay her democratic mandate.”
Additional reporting by Maria Ortega