Op-ed
Democratising Europe – a transnational project? A debate with openDemocracy
, 13/09/2016
YANIS VAROUFAKIS, ROSEMARY BECHLER, ALEX SAKALIS, and ANTHONY BARNETT 13 September 2016 (Click here for the openDemocracy site) What role does national self-determination and ‘self-government’ play in European and human emancipation today? Yanis Varoufakis replies for DiEM25. Yanis Varoufakis has recently been engaged in debating this key question for our times with the left. (See more.) […]
The Politics of Negative Interest Rates – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 23/08/2016
ATHENS – Objects of desire come at a cost. Only bad things, like toxic waste, have a negative price, the equivalent of a fee payable to anyone willing to make them disappear. Does this mean that negative interest rates embody a new perspective on money – that it has gone “bad”? [To read on, click […]
Building a Progressive International – op-ed Project Syndicate
, 31/07/2016
ATHENS – Politics in the advanced economies of the West is in the throes of a political shakeup unseen since the 1930s. The Great Deflation now gripping both sides of the Atlantic is reviving political forces that had lain dormant since the end of World War II. Passion is returning to politics, but not in […]
The Eurozone After Brexit – Die Zeit (in English and German)
, 20/07/2016
For the German language version, as published in Die Zeit on 18 July 2016, click here. For the English version (as I wrote it originally)…
On the anniversary of the Greeks’ OXI, we say NO to a retreat to leftist nationalism – op-ed in La Repubblica
, 11/07/2016
by Yanis Varoufakis and Lorenzo Marsili. Click here for the la Repubblica site. For the English language version…
ONLY EUROPE’S RADICALS CAN SAVE THE EU – Newsweek op-ed on the Spanish election outcome
, 08/07/2016
Podemos suffered in the Spanish elections because it lacked a defining European agenda. BY YANIS VAROUFAKIS ON 7/8/16 AT 4:19 PM – click here for the Newsweek site or…
Mantener la unidad de la izquierda de manera progresista y eficaz -Público.es
, 26/06/2016
Lecciones desde Grecia y España Yanis Varoufakis Economista y exministro de Finanzas de Grecia La experiencia de Syriza pesa en la conciencia colectiva de la izquierda europea. Es importante que aprendamos de esta experiencia y resurjamos más unidos, progresistas y eficaces en la tan apremiante como necesaria consecución de una agenda paneuropea humanista.
The Right Left for Europe: In response to leftwing Brexiters, Grexiters etc. – Project Syndicate Op-Ed
, 25/06/2016
ATHENS – The United Kingdom’s referendum on whether to leave the European Union created odd bedfellows – and some odder adversaries. As Tory turned mercilessly against Tory, the schism in the Conservative establishment received much attention. But a parallel (thankfully more civilized) split afflicted my side: the left. Having campaigned against “Leave” for several months […]
Brexit won’t shield Britain from the horror of a disintegrating EU
, 25/06/2016
Bringing democrats together across borders is needed now to prevent a slide into a xenophobic, 1930s-like abyss Click here for The Guardian site or… Yanis Varoufakis
The ECB’s Illusory Independence – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 06/06/2016
ATHENS – A commitment to the independence of central banks is a vital part of the creed that “serious” policymakers are expected to uphold (privatization, labor-market “flexibility,” and so on). But what are central banks meant to be independent of? The answer seems obvious: governments. In this sense, the European Central Bank is the quintessentially independent […]
GREECE’S ENDLESS LOOP OF DOOM – full version of New York Times op-ed
, 03/06/2016
On 31st May 2016 the New York Times published the op-ed below (under a title that is unfortunate and not my choice). (For the NYT site, click here.) The version below is the original and contained graphs and data that could not be fitted in the printed version. (You can also download a pdf of the full article […]
On Spain’s general election & Podemos’ prospects – op-ed in Newsweek
, 12/05/2016
Click here for the Newsweek site. Or…
Imagining a New Bretton Woods – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 08/05/2016
The financial meltdown of 2008 prompted calls for a global financial system that curtails trade imbalances, moderates speculative capital flows, and prevents systemic contagion. That, of course, was the goal of the original Bretton Woods system. But such a system today would be both untenable and undesirable. So, what might an alternative look like?
Der Spiegel op-ed: Endgame for the IMF-EU Feud over Greece’s Debt
, 11/04/2016
For the Der Spiegel site click here. Otherwise… The feud between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European side of Greece’s troika of creditors is old news. However, Wikileaks’ publication of a dialogue between key IMF players suggests that we are approaching something of a hazardous endgame.
Guardian Long Read – Why we must save the EU
, 10/04/2016
5th April 2016. For The Guardian site, click here. Otherwise…
Lies, Damn Lies, and European Growth Statistics
, 15/03/2016
ATHENS – “Greece has at last returned to economic growth.” That was the official European Union storyline at the end of 2014. Alas, Greek voters, unimpressed by this rejoicing, ousted the incumbent government and, in January 2015, voted for a new administration in which I served as finance minister. Last week, similarly celebratory reports emanated […]
Democracy or Bust in Europe -Project Syndicate Op-Ed
, 24/02/2016
BERLIN – “Europe will be democratized or it will disintegrate!” That maxim is more than a catchphrase from the manifesto of the Democracy in Europe Movement – DiEM25, the group I just helped to launch in Berlin. It is a simple, if under-acknowledged fact. Read more at my Project Syndicate page
The crucial Third Option: DiEM’s raison d’ etre – Op-ed in The Guardian
, 05/02/2016
Click here for the Guardian site. Or…
Do they really want your money back? op-ed in Bild Zeitung
, 02/02/2016
Click here for the Bild website. Or…
Are we heading for a crash? The Guardian
, 29/01/2016
Click here for The Guardian site or if you want to read the longer version of my entry…
How the ‘Troika Effect’ was dubbed the ‘Varoufakis Effect’ – Project Syndicate Op-Ed and beyond
, 28/01/2016
As part of an impressive campaign to discredit the Athens Spring, and those of us who continue to honour and propagate its spirit, a cabal of journalists and ‘analysts’ have joined forces to depict me as the “destroyer of the Greek economy.” The purpose? To demonise the Greek people’s audacity to elect us with a […]
Schäuble’s Gathering Storm – my Project Syndicate op-ed
, 24/10/2015
ATHENS – Europe’s crisis is poised to enter its most dangerous phase. After forcing Greece to accept another “extend-and-pretend” bailout agreement, fresh battle lines are being drawn. And, with the refugee influx exposing the damage caused by divergent economic prospects and sky-high youth unemployment in Europe’s periphery, the ramifications are ominous, as recent statements by […]
Greece without illusions – op-ed in Project Syndicate
, 05/10/2015
ATHENS – “The costliest minor government reshuffle in Greece’s history.” That is at least one way to describe the result of the Greek general election on September 20. Indeed, with few exceptions, the same ministers have returned to the same offices as part of an administration backed by the same odd pair of parties (the […]
Tsipras' triumph vs the impossible task of implementing a program designed to fail – in The Guardian
, 22/09/2015
Alexis Tsipras has snatched resounding victory from the jaws of July’s humiliating surrender to the troika of Greece’s lenders. Defying opposition parties, opinion pollsters and critics within his ranks (including this writer), he held on to government with a reduced, albeit workable, majority. The question is whether he can combine remaining in office with being […]