Op-ed
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 […]
On German Moral Leadership – English version of op-ed in Sunday's FAZ
, 14/09/2015
For the published version in Sunday’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung click here. For my original English text read on…
HOW EUROPE CRUSHED GREECE – Yanis Varoufakis' op-ed in the NYT
, 09/09/2015
ATHENS — Since the beginning of Greece’s financial crisis in 2010, two prime ministers have been swept from office after they were forced to adopt an unfeasible package of austerity measures in exchange for a bailout from the troika, as the eurozone authorities — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary […]
Democratizing the Eurozone – a Project-Syndicate op-ed
, 02/09/2015
ATHENS – Like Macbeth, policymakers tend to commit new sins to cover up their old misdemeanors. And political systems prove their worth by how quickly they put an end to their officials’ serial, mutually reinforcing, policy mistakes. Judged by this standard, the eurozone, comprising 19 established democracies, lags behind the largest non-democratic economy in the […]
A New Approach to Eurozone Sovereign Debt – op-ed in Project Syndicate
, 17/08/2015
My latest column for Project Syndicate is now out. Click here for the Project Syndicate page or read on:
Death by Debt: My Response to The German Finance Ministry, by Jeffrey Sachs
, 01/08/2015
Dr. Ludger Schuknecht, senior economist at the Germany Finance Ministry, explains his ministry’s viewpoint regarding Greece. This viewpoint essentially holds that Eurozone countries should live within their means; adjust to their debt burdens; and take their reform medicine as needed. If they do so, they will be successful, as illustrated by Ireland, Spain, and Portugal. Greece […]
Something is rotten in the eurozone kingdom – my op-ed in the Financial Times
, 01/08/2015
Plan would have eased Greece’s chronic liquidity shortage, writes Yanis Varoufakis in the Financial Times. A paradox lurks in the foundations of the eurozone. Governments in the monetary union lack a central bank that has their back, while the central bank lacks a government to support it.
In favour of Varoufakis’ Plan B – by Paul Tyson
, 01/08/2015
In a recently released recording of a teleconference between Yanis Varoufakis and a group of hedge fund managers, Mr Varoufakis spoke frankly about the contingency plans he had developed when he was the Finance Minister.
Yanis Varoufakis is being pilloried for doing what had to be done – by Philippe Legrain in The Guardian
, 01/08/2015
For the Guardian site click here. Or…
In… my defence – by Mohamed El Erian
, 30/07/2015
In Defense of Varoufakis by MOHAMED A. EL-ERIAN Click here for the Project Syndicate site. Or…
For an alliance of national liberation fronts – by Stefano Fassina MP
, 27/07/2015
Stefano Fassina, MP and former Deputy Finance Minister of Italy, kindly sent me the following opinion piece. While convinced that the “controlled disintegration of the eurozone” that he advocates is pregnant with great dangers, this is a debate that Europeans cannot eschew.
A new kind of politics? By Paul Tyson, in opendemocracy.net
, 25/07/2015
Varoufakis is an exception to the norm precisely because he really believes in representative democracy. (Click here for the opendemocracy.net site)