Essays
A radical new vision for the World Bank and the IMF – op-ed with David Adler, in The Guardian
, 31/01/2019
The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, will step down on 1 February – three and a half years before the end of his term – in search of greener pastures. His readiness to resign from the leadership of one the two most powerful international institutions is a worrying omen. But it is also an […]
Jeremy Corbyn’s necessary next step: A Speech of Hope for Britain – The Independent
, 31/01/2019
Britain’s prime minister has been remarkable in resolutely following a ruinous path that she keeps insisting remains the least perilous road to Brexit. Theresa May’s first crime against logic was to trigger Article 50 without a plan of what to do on 29 March 2019 if no deal had been struck with Brussels. Her second was to forfeit […]
“Ich bin stolz auf die Dämonisierung” – Deutsche Welle
, 29/01/2019
In der Finanzkrise zog er den Zorn europäischer Sparpolitiker und heimischer Eliten auf sich. Jetzt will Yanis Varoufakis selbst nach Brüssel. Im Interview mit der Deutschen Welle spricht er über seine Vision für die EU. Als Finanzminister Griechenlands verhandelte Yanis Varoufakis während der Finankrise 2015 – ohne Erfolg. Nach seinem Rücktritt gründete der Ökonom die paneuropäische […]
Britain needs a People’s Debate, not a second Brexit referendum
, 24/01/2019
Britain is teetering on a knife’s edge: about to crash out of, or back into, the European Union. Either outcome would represent a defeat for democracy in the UK and in the EU. Crashing out would inflict substantial economic hardship on the weakest in Britain. It would boost jingoism and parochialism, drive England further apart […]
The Brexit clock must be run down, not re-set – op-ed
, 24/01/2019
The overwhelming defeat that Britain’s Parliament inflicted upon Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan was fresh confirmation that there is no substitute for democracy. Members of Parliament deserve congratulations for keeping their cool in the face of a made-up deadline. That deadline is the reason why Brexit is proving so hard and potentially so damaging. […]
Turning Brexit Into a Celebration of Democracy – Project Syndicate op-ed, 26 DEC 2018
, 14/01/2019
Paradoxically, while the current Brexit impasse is pregnant with risk, the British should welcome it. Their discontent with the choices before them is an opportunity, not a curse, and more democracy is the antidote, not the disease. ATHENS – Discontent without end looms over Britain. Leavers and Remainers are equally despondent. Her Majesty’s Government and […]
At the Edinburgh Festival, in conversation with Jeremy Corbyn on reviving socialism, with Maria Alyokhina (Pussy Riot) on despotism, and with Shami Chakrabarti on liberty
, 08/01/2019
In 2018, the good people behind the Edinburgh Festival kindly invited me to host a series of discussions under the title KILLING DEMOCRACY? My remit was: Further to explore the question of whether the current form of financialised capitalism is devouring democracy, reflecting on my work with the Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM25). In a series […]
Realistic Utopias versus Dystopic Realities – Oxford University, Taylor Lecture, 12/2/2019
, 22/12/2018
The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, Oxford University, kindly invited me to deliver the 2019 Taylor Lecture on 12th February 2019. In my book was addressed to my daughter regarding the economy I tried to offer her a simple, though not simplistic, account on how capitalism works and how it fails. Critics, correctly, pointed out that the book’s […]
Talking Brexit, Bernie and Left Internationalism with Yanis Varoufakis – VICE
, 22/12/2018
Varoufakis talks to us about what he’s planning with the veteran US politician, why Jeremy Corbyn has been slow to support his campaigning efforts in Europe, and whether it’s possible for the UK to “remain and reform” inside the EU. VICE: Can you start by telling me about your trip over to the US. What […]
On our efforts to unite progressives in Europe and internationally: A Buzzfeed News Long Read
, 22/12/2018
OXFORD, England — A police van smuggled Steve Bannon past protesters in Oxford last month, a stop on a promotional tour for his new project to boost “populist nationalism” across Europe. Bannon’s speech at the Oxford Union, a grand debate hall that has hosted the likes of Albert Einstein and Mother Teresa, made headlines across […]
DiEM25’s European New Deal plan can succeed where Macron and Piketty failed – The Guardian
, 14/12/2018
If Brexit demonstrates that leaving the EU is not the walk in the park that Eurosceptics promised, Emmanuel Macron’s current predicament proves that blind European loyalism is, similarly, untenable. The reason is that the EU’s architecture is equally difficult to deconstruct, sustain and reform. While Britain’s political class is, rightly, in the spotlight for having made a mess […]
Our progressive internationalism – The Nation
, 14/12/2018
On November 25, at a hip “event loft” in Berlin, Yanis Varoufakis announced that he’d be campaigning for office in two countries at once. In the spring, the former Greek finance minister had declared his intention to run for prime minister back home in Athens—and in ordinary times, that might have been enough. Today, though, “discontent, xenophobia, […]
“Why we need a Progressive International”. With Christiane Amanpour on CNN Int
, 14/12/2018
Western democracies in chaos: In the face of divisive nationalist movements, DiEM25 co-founder and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis wants the world’s progressives to fight for democratic rights and an International Green New Deal. Here he explains why. Source: CNN
This is why launched the Progressive International yesterday in Vermont. THE GUARDIAN
, 01/12/2018
Yesterday, DiEM25 and the SANDERS INSTITUTE, in a packed room hearing from Bernie Sanders, Yanis Varoufakis, Niki Ashton, Ada Colau and Jeff Sachs, we launched the Progressive International. (CLICK HERE TO READ THE OPEN CALL, TO JOIN, AND TO SUPPORT) Today, in this GUARDIAN op-ed, David Adler and Yanis Varoufakis explain why we need the Progressive […]
TIME magazine’s report on DiEM25’s German party campaign for the European Parliament, and my candidacy in Germany
, 27/11/2018
On Sunday morning, the former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis picked up a microphone in Berlin, the German capital where, three years ago, high-stakes negotiations with E.U. leaders culminated in his resignation. Varoufakis, 57, knows many Germans still blame him and his country for the European debt crisis. But on stage in Berlin, next to a banner […]
“The EU declared war and Theresa May played along” – Interview in The NewStatesman
, 23/11/2018
In 2016, shortly before the EU referendum, Yanis Varoufakis warned that the UK was destined for a “Hotel California Brexit”: it could check out but it could never leave. The former Greek finance minister spoke from experience. In 2015, his efforts to end austerity – “fiscal waterboarding” – were thwarted by the EU (a struggle […]
The euro and Steve Bannon’s Fascist International – Oxford Union address, video & audio 16th November 2018
, 16/11/2018
On 17th October 2018, Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice President of the European Commission, addressed the Oxford Union in support of the motion that “the euro has never been stronger“. Today, Friday 16th November 2018, Steve Bannon is addressing the Oxford Union also. In between, on Wednesday 14th November 2018, I had the opportunity to also address […]
Behind the closed doors of negotiations with the EU? – The Guardian podcast, November 2018
, 10/11/2018
As the Brexit negotiations near crunch point, Theresa May is still battling to keep her party on side as she edges closer to a deal with Brussels. But is it possible to take on the EU in negotiations and win? One man who staked his political career on trying just that was the former Greek finance minister Yanis […]
DiEM25’s radical Europeanist political agenda – Interviewed by Jacobin’s David Broder
, 03/11/2018
Last Friday, Yanis Varoufakis was in Italy to promote European Spring, a list of candidates standing across the continent in next May’s European election. The former Greek finance minister visited Rome just days after the European Commission had struck down the Italian government’s budget, sparking further rows over Brussels’ authority to curb member states’ spending. […]
