Op-ed
Liberal Totalitarianism – Project Syndicate op-ed, 30 APR 2018
, 15/05/2018
LISBON – It used to be an axiom of liberalism that freedom meant inalienable self-ownership. You were your own property. You could lease yourself to an employer for a limited period, and for a mutually agreed price, but your property rights over yourself could not be bought or sold. Over the past two centuries, this […]
Yanis Varoufakis: “Italien ist zu groß, um schikaniert zu werden” – Der Standard interview 12 MAI 2018
, 12/05/2018
Yanis Varoufakis galt für wenige Monate als der streitbarste Politiker in der Eurozone: Nach dem Wahlsieg der linken Syriza war er zwischen Jänner und Juli 2015 Finanzminister Griechenlands in der Regierung unter Premier Alexis Tsipras. Varoufakis versuchte vergeblich seine Amtskollegen zu einer Lockerung der Sparvorgaben für Griechenland zu überreden. Sein provokanter Stil stieß auf heftige […]
At home with the Financial Times – by Bruce Clark, 11 APR 2018
, 15/04/2018
Yanis Varoufakis is full of teasing paradoxes. As a radical economics guru, he expounds on the state of the world with a mixture of burning grievance and brimming, almost imperious, self-confidence. Aged 57, his personal baggage includes a keen sense of the wrongs of recent Greek history, which overshadowed his parents’ lives, and the glories […]
Our new European party can unite Britain’s feuding Remainers and Leavers – by Yanis Varoufakis, Benoit Hamon (Generation-s), Luigi de Magistris (mayor of Naples), Rasmus Nordqvist (Alternativet); Rui Tavares, former MEP from Portugal (Livre); & Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk (Razem), op-ed in The Guardian
, 15/04/2018
The European Union and the UK are on a cliff edge. Left to its Brussels-based establishment, the EU continues to turn against most of its people who, as a consequence, turn against Brussels. Meanwhile, facing an immensely damaging Brexit, the people of Britain are becoming despondent. This is the moment for British and continental progressives to forge […]
Why we founded new political party MeRA25 to challenge austerity in Greece – The New Statesman, 5 APR 2018
, 07/04/2018
After successfully quashing Greece’s 2015 debtor’s prison break, Europe’s deep establishment has embarked on a mission to declare the country’s economic and social crisis over. To recall Tacitus, “they make a desert and they call it peace”. Since 2015, the Greek state has paid its creditors a sum equal to the aggregate pre-tax revenues of […]
No Brexit for a Eurozone Britain? Project Syndicate op-ed
, 04/04/2018
As British Prime Minister Theresa May is finding out, disentangling a member state from the EU is an arduous and complex undertaking. But how much harder would Brexit have been had the United Kingdom adopted the euro back in 2000? ATHENS – “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” […]
The Guardian previews my Annual Shakespeare Lecture, tonight (19 March 2018) at the Rose Theatre
, 19/03/2018
Mark Lawson, in today’s Guardian, previews my Annual Shakespeare Rose Lecture, ahead of tonight’s delivery. He begins with its title ‘Shake the Superflux’ and the statement: ‘The beauty of King Lear is that it encourages us to think about inequality’. Is Theresa May Macbeth? Might King Lear agree with Jeremy Corbyn? On Monday night, one of Europe’s leading […]
Trump and trade tariffs: big lies founded on small truths – The Guardian, 18 MAR 2018
, 18/03/2018
Donald Trump is perhaps the US president best equipped to understand that some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall. His personal business plan always involved racking up enormous deficits and debts, before finding a way to unload them on to others – his employees and creditors mostly. Last week the US president imposed tariffs […]
LA STAMPA interview on the Italian election result (the original answers in English) – 9 MAR 2018
, 09/03/2018
In this interview LA STAMPA sought my views on the outcome of the Italian elections. My original answers (in English) appear below. The gist? Italy’s election result is yet another example of the political centre’s implosion as a result of the establishment’s perseverance with failed, austerity-based policies, pretending that they were the solution to our […]
How Europe’s Band-Aid Ensures Greece’s Debt Bondage – Project Syndicate op-ed, 26 FEB 2018
, 04/03/2018
ATHENS – Greece’s never-ending public-debt saga has come to signify the European Union’s inept handling of its inevitable eurozone crisis. Eight years after its bankruptcy, the Greek state’s persistent insolvency remains an embarrassment for Europe’s officialdom. That seems to be why, after having declared the euro crisis over in the rest of Europe, the authorities […]
LE PARISIEN – Varoufakis : «Macron est excellent sur la forme, mais décevant sur le fond»
, 17/02/2018
L’ex-ministre grec des Finances veut lutter contre la pauvreté de façon «concertée» en Europe. L’ancien ministre grec des Finances, Yanis Varoufakis, fait le tour de l’Europe à la recherche d’alliés pour proposer un programme de gauche aux élections européennes de 2019. Vous voulez avoir des listes avec un label commun dans tous les pays pour les élections […]
Long review of ‘Adults in the Room’, by J.W. Mason, in the Boston Review
, 13/02/2018
Adults In The Room: My Battle With Europe’s Deep Establishment Yanis Varoufakis Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28.00 (cloth) In the spring of 2015, a series of debt negotiations briefly claimed a share of the world’s attention that normally goes only to events where celebrities give each other prizes. Syriza, a scrappy left-wing party, had stormed into […]
Allein gegen die Troika (Alone with the troika) – review of German edition of ‘Adults in the Room’, by Wilfried Loth in FAZ
, 13/02/2018
Schon als Minister legte er Wert auf große Gesten. Yanis Varoufakis bleibt sich auch in diesem Buch treu. Νein, die ganze Geschichte der Auseinandersetzung um die Griechenland-Hilfe im ersten Halbjahr 2015 ist das nicht, was Yanis Varoufakis, der erste Finanzminister der Regierung von Alexis Tsipras in diesem umfangreichen Memoirenwerk bietet. Es ist eine Abfolge von Gesprächen, […]
“La crisis se está haciendo más profunda, más tóxica, más permanente” (“The crisis is getting deeper, more toxic, more permanent”) – El Diario interview, 13/1/2018 (including the original English text of the interview)
, 15/01/2018
“Europa es exactamente lo opuesto a democracia”, asegura el ex ministro griego de Finanzas y cofundador de DIEM25, que ajusta cuentas con los protagonistas de la crisis del euro en “Comportarse como adultos“ “El Gobierno español actuó firmemente en Bruselas contra los intereses de la inmensa mayoría de los españoles” “El bitcoin es una espléndida burbuja […]
Internationalism vs Globalisation – op-ed in The Globe & Mail, published as “Globalization is stuck in a trap. What will it be when it breaks free?” – 12 JAN 2018
, 14/01/2018
Back in 1991, a left-wing friend expressed his frustration that “really existing socialism” was crumbling, with exaltations of how it had propelled the Soviet Union from the plough to Sputnik in a decade. I remember replying, under his pained and disapproving gaze: “So, what? No unsustainable system can be, ultimately, sustained.” Now that globalization is also […]
A Good German Idea for 2018 – Project Syndicate op-ed, 4 JAN 2018
, 04/01/2018
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Varoufakis: “No se engañen, la crisis sigue ahí: el euro corre peligro” – El Pais, 2/1/2018
, 02/01/2018
El exministro de Finanzas griego ha publicado un libro sobre las entretelas de la política europea Yanis Varoufakis, exministro de Finanzas de Grecia. Barcelona, 9 de noviembre de 2017 ALBERT GARCIA Polémico. Atractivo. Brillante. Controvertido. Los seis meses de Yanis Varoufakis(Atenas, 1961) al frente del Ministerio de Finanzas de Grecia lo convirtieron en una celebridad global, en una suerte […]
Bitcoin, Blockchain and the Future of Europe – Interviewed by Tom Upchurch for WIRED
, 25/12/2017
In an exclusive interview with WIRED, Yanis Varoufakis discusses Bitcoin’s bubble, the fantasy of apolitical money and the opportunities for the blockchain to reform Europe. By TOM UPCHURCH Saturday 23 December 2017 When I first met Yanis Varoufakis in the summer of 2014, he was a highly respected but relatively obscure economist. Back then, the price […]
NYT: “What to Get Theresa May for Christmas?” Answer: Adults in the Room!
, 25/12/2017
LONDON — If Santa is listening, here’s a suggestion about what to deliver Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain and David Davis, her chief Brexit negotiator: a copy of Yanis Varoufakis’s “Adults in the Room.” Mr. Varoufakis is the former Greek finance minister and his book sets out in excruciating detail the story of the 2015 […]
The High Cost of Denying Class War – Project Syndicate op-ed, 8th December 2017
, 12/12/2017
ATHENS – The Anglosphere’s political atmosphere is thick with bourgeois outrage. In the United States, the so-called liberal establishment is convinced it was robbed by an insurgency of “deplorables” weaponized by Vladimir Putin’s hackers and Facebook’s sinister inner workings. In Britain, too, an incensed bourgeoisie are pinching themselves that support for leaving the European Union […]
A Life in the Day – Sunday Times, 26th November 2017
, 07/12/2017
On the occasion of the publication of ‘Talking To My Daughter about the Economy: A brief history of capitalism‘, the Sunday Times published this interview, in the context of their series ‘A Day in the Life of…’ Apologies for the lifestyle-like style and content… Interview by Gabriel Pogrund Best advice I was given A statistics professor […]
My ‘Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: A brief history of capitalism” reviewed by Ireland’s finance minister
, 25/11/2017
It is not often that one’s book is reviewed by a sitting finance minister. But these are strange times. On 4th November Ireland’s finance minister Paschal Donohoe took the trouble to review my ‘Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: A brief history of capitalism” for The Irish Times. To my utter surprise, he had some […]
New York Times review of ‘Adults in the Rooom’, by Justin Fox
, 23/11/2017
“A gripping tale of an outspoken intellectual’s sudden immersion in high-stakes politics,… an attempt to divine why smart, seemingly decent politicians and bureaucrats would continue pushing a pointlessly cruel approach long after its pointlessness had become clear.” “Varoufakis wasn’t always trying to make waves. And he seems to have approached his chief task with great seriousness.” Why […]
DiEM25 tritt als Bewegung bei Wahlen an – der Freitag
, 14/11/2017
Europa zurückholen Mit Europa steht es nicht zum Besten. Die Bewegung DiEM25 will via Demokratisierung zu einem Europa der Menschen anregen. Statt zuzusehen, wie es “über die Klippen geht” Als die GriechInnen „Oxi“, nein, zu den europäischen „Reformen“ gesagt hatten und darob von den „Institutionen“ noch schlimmer gedemütigt worden waren, schrieb ich: Europa ist gestorben (dazu […]