On our nations and the EU
With Yanis Varoufakis and Michael Howard, Lord Howard of Lympne.
London W11 2AY
Yanis Varoufakis
Revered academic, expert in game theory, and, according to Bloomberg (and others), ‘brilliant economist’, Yanis Varoufakis was named as Minister of Finance for Greece in January 2015. Following seven months of negotiations with the state’s creditors and the European Union, he resigned on July 6th – in spite of Greek voters’ decisive agreement with his strong stance against the EU’s bailout terms. His reason: having heard ‘a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for [his]… ‘absence’ from its meetings’. He remains an eloquent an influential participant in discussions of European democracy, and is vocal about his disagreement with the deal eventually accepted by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Michael Howard
Michael Howard was the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held Cabinet positions under the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, including Secretary of State for Employment (1990-92), Secretary of State for the Environment (1992-93) and Home Secretary (1993-97).
He was the Member of Parliament for Folkestone & Hythe from 1983 – 2010 when he retired from the House of Commons and was appointed a Life Peer. He was appointed to the Order of Companions of Honour in 2011.
He now divides his time between charity work (he is, inter alia, Chairman of Hospice UK) and business, serving as non-executive Director on several Boards.
