Essays
It is time the world unites around an International Green New Deal – The Guardian
, 24/04/2019
By Yanis Varoufakis and David Adler: In times of crisis and catastrophe, children are often forced to grow up quickly. We are now witnessing this premature call to action on a planetary scale. As the adults in government accelerate their consumption of fossil fuels, children are leading the campaign against our species’ looming extinction. Our […]
A Dream of Spring: Emma Steiner interviews DiEM25’s David Adler
, 18/04/2019
Yanis Varoufakis and the DiEM25 movement are making headlines with their call for a more democratic and just European Union. Varoufakis brings his experience dealing with the EU as the former finance minister of Greece to the table for the European Spring, a European Parliament electoral slate that includes an ambitious and audacious vision for […]
First they came for Assange…
, 17/04/2019
So, here is an idea: Let us join forces to block Assange’s extradition from any European country to the US, so that he can travel to Stockholm and give his accusers an opportunity to be heard. Let us work together to empower women, while protecting whistle-blowers who reveal nefarious behavior that governments, armies, and corporations […]
FT Alphachat 28 MAR 2019: On Democracy, Europe, the UK and Greece
, 05/04/2019
Alphaville’s Jemima Kelly and Izabella Kaminska sat down with Yanis Varoufakis, former finance minister of Greece and current organiser of a trans-European group, DiEM25, of what he calls “radical Europeanists” — in favour of union, without deflation or austerity. Mr Varoufakis answers criticism from the left, pointing out that even if the euro or the […]
Brexit: On May’s mistakes and the best road ahead – Financial Times video
, 31/03/2019
Sharing a taxi with the FT to give my view on how Prime Minister Theresa May undermined herself – and on the steps that must be taken next. https://www.ft.com/video/01aef2cb-81b9-4dbb-9f8b-85a0c9559097
The swallows of the EUROPEAN SPRING are in full flight. If you missed it, watch the launch of our European Parliament election campaign at the Bozar, Brussels
, 27/03/2019
On Monday 25th March, the EUROPEAN SPRING was launched at the Bozar Theatre in front of friends, supporters and hopeful citizens of Europe. For the first time in Europe’s history, a common list of candidates is presented across Europe promoting a single agenda – the NEW DEAL for EUROPE that we worked on together for […]
Why Norway plus gives Britain the time it needs to get out of its Brexit mess – op-ed in The Telegraph
, 27/03/2019
Brexit is, undeniably, important. The Prime Minister’s faulty negotiations have now turned what the majority of the British people considered an opportunity into a national crisis. However, now is perhaps the moment to reflect that, in an era of trade wars, geopolitical realignment and existential threats to our nations’ democracies, Brexit is not as important as we […]
Why the Deutsche Bank merger with Commerzbank must be stopped – HANDELSBLATT (English & German)
, 27/03/2019
The official story is one of creating a national champion, a German bank large enough to compete with American investment banks. The truth is far less heroic and a lot more sordid than that. Here is why Demokratie in Europa is campaigning against this merger. Both banks are zombies. Commerzbank has gone through eight years […]
A Speech of Hope for Britain – The NewStatesman, 20 MAR 2019
, 24/03/2019
The memory of past greatness can be debilitating for a people who feel they have failed to rise to a historic occasion. We Greeks have been burdened by this sensation at various moments in our postwar history: in 1967, when we failed to prevent a military coup; or more recently in 2015, when we allowed […]
Stagnant Capitalism – Financial News & Project Syndicate
, 21/03/2019
When the Great Depression followed the 1929 stock-market crash, almost everyone acknowledged that capitalism was unstable, unreliable, and prone to stagnation. In the decades that followed, however, that perception changed. Capitalism’s post-war revival, and especially the post-Cold War rush to financialised globalisation, resurrected faith in markets’ self-regulating abilities. Today, a long decade after the 2008 […]
Der Grieche erklärt Europa – Der Spiegel
, 14/03/2019
In der Nachspielzeit, die “Tagesthemen” warten schon, darf Christian Lindner noch einmal seinen Tweet zu den “Profis” erläutern, denen die Sache mit dem Klimawandel überlassen werden müsste. Wer schlechte Zähne habe, der gehe ja auch zum Zahnarzt. [VIDEO LINK] Schon freut sich Lindner über seinen späten Punkt, da umdribbelt plötzlich Yanis Varoufakis eine bereits auf glühenden Kohlen sitzende Anne Will und taucht […]
Pour un New Deal européen – Liberation
, 14/03/2019
A l’approche des élections européennes, le Printemps européen, coalition transnationale de partis de gauche, présente un programme social et écologique pour dépasser le clivage entre populistes et libéraux. Avec des propositions concrètes : plan de transition écologique de 500 milliards d’euros annuels, Assemblée constituante, fonds citoyen financé par les Gafa… Yánis Varoufákis pour un New Deal européen Tribune. L’Union européenne se fracture au moment précis où les Européens ont le plus besoin d’elle. […]
A European Spring is possible – The Nation
, 14/03/2019
The 2008 global financial crisis—the modern 1929 crash—set off a vicious chain reaction across Europe. By 2010 it had irreparably damaged the foundations of the eurozone, causing the establishment to bend its own rules and commit crimes against logic in order to bail out its banker friends. By 2013 the neoliberal ideology that had legitimized […]
EU Court defends the ECB’s right to cover up its illegal closure of Greece’s banks
, 12/03/2019
The European Union Court today delivered its verdict: European citizens cannot be allowed to find out whether the ECB acted legally in closing down Greece’s banks in June 2015. Why? In the wording of the three judges, because such disclosure would affect the ECB’s “space to think in 2015 and also after 2015”. If this sounds […]
The European Spring holds the answer to the fragmenting EU’s plight – The Guardian, 11 MAR 2019
, 11/03/2019
The European Union is fragmenting at a time when Europeans need it the most. Emmanuel Macron is right to point this out. But he is wrong to push another top-down agenda that lacks credibility, fails to speak to European’s concerns, and entrenches the democratic deficit at the heart of the EU. By entrusting Europe’s renewal to its […]
Two replies to Piketty’s critique of our New Deal for Europe
, 07/03/2019
Thomas Piketty recently criticised DiEM25’s New Deal for Europe for relying on new debt, rather than new taxes, to fund green investment. James K. Galbraith and Stuart Holland (my long time collaborators on the New Deal for Europe and the earlier Modest Proposal on which it was founded) have now replied to Piketty’s critique (see […]
Our Plan for a European Spring | DiEM25
, 07/03/2019
The 2008 global financial crisis — the modern 1929 crash — set off a vicious chain reaction across Europe. By 2010 it had irreparably damaged the foundations of the eurozone, causing the establishment to bend its own rules and commit crimes against logic in order to bail out its banker friends. By 2013 the neoliberal ideology […]
German political economy’s two naughty sisters in action, once again – George Krimpas guest post
, 04/03/2019
The lean years are here again, to the apparent satisfaction of Germany’s Finance Minister, a Social Democrat. The rate of growth of the budgetary surplus was declining, therefore restraining expenditure was the prudent attitude, the public must rest assured that over the next few years 25 billion euros will be saved, the chance of a […]
Europe’s Leaders Are Aiding Italy’s Populists – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 03/03/2019
The fact that Italy’s public debt has a lower credit rating than private debt is a reflection not of public debt’s intrinsic inferiority but of a political choice made by European leaders. And, by bolstering an authoritarian politician, that choice is now blowing back on them. ATHENS – Italy is now the frontline in the […]
Britain needs to choose its dominant Brexit strategy – The Telegraph
, 28/02/2019
Imagine that we knew the day of our death. Our lives would change drastically. Though we know we shall surely die, not knowing precisely when the mortal coil will be shuffled off makes all the difference, allowing us to live life productively on a day-by-day basis. For exactly the same reason, the fixed deadline embedded […]
Utopian science fictions legitimising our current dystopia – 2019 Taylor Lecture, Oxford University
, 19/02/2019
The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, Oxford University, kindly invited me to deliver the 2019 Taylor Lecture on 12th February 2019. I chose the topic of Realistic Utopias versus Dystopic Realities – my aim being to highlight the manner in which really-existing capitalism is marketed as a utopian science fiction that has nothing to do with… really-existing capitalism. Behind this elegant utopian […]
Our moment in history, and what must be done. Théâtre du Rond-Point, Paris, Monday 18/2, 20.00
, 11/02/2019
Monday 18 February, 20.00, live from Théâtre du Rond-Point. A discussion between Aude Lancelin and Yanis Varoufakis on politics and philosophy. Follow on @LeMediaTV.
THE ECONOMIST on DiEM25 & the European Spring: “Varoufakis Sans Frontières”
, 05/02/2019
In a warm office in Berlin’s trendy Kreuzberg district, Charlemagne is trying to persuade Yanis Varoufakis that he is a politician. “It’s a necessity. I really dislike running and asking people for votes,” protests the Greek economist when asked about European Spring, his new transnational political party. Does he think of himself as a politician? “No. […]
David Adler explaining our radical vision for a New Bretton Woods on CNN
, 05/02/2019
The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, just stepped down in search of greener pastures. His readiness to resign prompted David Adler (DiEM25’s Policy Coordinator) to I to write this op-ed in The Guardian arguing for a New Bretton Woods. In this CNN interview David explains what we mean.