Essays
Spain’s Crisis is Europe’s Opportunity – Project Syndicate op-ed, 6 OCT 2017
, 06/10/2017
The Catalonia crisis is a strong hint from history that Europe needs to develop a new type of sovereignty, one that strengthens cities and regions, dissolves national particularism, and upholds democratic norms. Imagining a pan-European democracy is the prerequisite for imagining a Europe worth saving. ATHENS – To revive the ailing European project, the ugly […]
Schäuble leaves but Schäuble-ism lives on
, 28/09/2017
Wolfgang Schäuble may heave left the finance ministry but his policy for turning the eurozone into an iron cage of austerity, that is the very antithesis of a democratic federation, lives on. What is remarkable about Dr Schäuble’s tenure was how he invested heavily in maintaining the fragility of the monetary union, rather than eradicating it in order […]
On negotiating with the EU & fiscal money – with Anatole Kaletsky & journalists from El Pais, Handelsblatt – Project Syndicate video
, 28/09/2017
Yanis Varoufakis discusses how to negotiate with the EU and his proposal to introduce fiscal money with Anatole Kaletsky, Co-Chairman of Gavekal Draganomics, David Alandete, Managing Editor of El Pais, and Torsten Riecke, Handelsblatt’s international correspondent.
To lead Europe Germany needs to come to terms with its crucial role in it – op-ed in Der Freitag (in German & in English), 21 SEP 2017
, 21/09/2017
Wahlkampf Die deutsche Rolle in Europa war kaum ein Thema – als werde alles so bleiben, wie es ist. Das aber ist ein Irrglaube Yanis Varoufakis | Ausgabe 38/2017 16 [For the English language original please scroll down.] Der Mitgründer der Bewegung DiEM25, Yanis Varoufakis, bemängelt die deutsche Selbstbezogenheit im Wahlkampf Foto: Pacific Press Agency/Imago Es ist normal, dass sich […]
Discussing China’s role in Europe, with Anatole Kaletsky & journalists from El Pais, Handelsblatt – Project Syndicate video
, 20/09/2017
Yanis Varoufakis, discusses China’s growing role in Southern Europe and EU politics with Anatole Kaletsky, Co-Chairman of Gavekal Draganomics, David Alandete, Managing Editor of El Pais, and Torsten Riecke, Handelsblatt’s international correspondent.
Germany needs a frank debate, not this tepid election campaign – Op-ed in Deutsche Welle
, 13/09/2017
The Greek people are paying dearly for having been lulled into a false sense of security, writes former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. Germans, he says, are laboring under the same illusion today. Complacency is a country’s worst enemy. My compatriots were, once upon a time, lulled into a false sense of having “made it.” I […]
Germany needs a frank debate – Deutsche Welle op-ed (in English & German)
, 12/09/2017
OPINION Yanis Varoufakis: Germany needs a frank debate The Greek people are paying dearly for having been lulled into a false sense of security, writes former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. Germans, he says, are laboring under the same illusion today. Complacency is a country’s worst enemy. My compatriots were, once upon a time, lulled into […]
For Europe’s sake, Britain must not be defeated – op-ed in The Sunday Times 10/9/2017
, 10/09/2017
Britain must make a radical move if it is to avoid the snare set by Brussels, which wants Brexit to fail, writes Greece’s former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis September 10 2017, 12:01am, The Sunday Times Varoufakis arrives at a meeting in Athens while he was the Greek finance ministerGETTY Share Brussels’s cheerleading journalists are at it […]
On a radical vision for Brexit – interview with the New Statesman
, 01/09/2017
I warned Jeremy Corbyn about Brexit – now Labour must regain its radicalism Yanis Varoufakis on a radical vision for Brexit. 1st September 2017 (Click here for the original NS site) From the beginning of my conversations on Brexit with the Labour leadership, I advocated a “radical Remain” stance: the UK should be for the […]
The Promise of Fiscal Money – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 30/08/2017
ATHENS – Western capitalism has few sacred cows left. It is time to question one of them: the independence of central banks from elected governments. The rationale for entrusting monetary policy fully to central banks is well understood: politicians, overly tempted during the electoral cycle to create more money, pose a threat to economic stability. […]
To documenta 14: This is how democrats deal with controversy – not by bringing out the censors!
, 24/08/2017
The news that “documenta 14 Cancels ‘Auschwitz on the Beach’ Performance Amid Intense Criticism” should worry us all. Censorship is the coward’s way out of controversy. Dialogue, fierce disagreement and, hopefully eventual synthesis, is the hard road that democrats dare to tread. Back in early July Franco Bifo Berardi wrote an open letter, addressed to myself and […]
The Great Crash (2007/8) ten years on – talking on BBC Radio 4’s World At One special program
, 11/08/2017
In this BBC World at One program dedicated to the Crash of 2007-8, I try, in the space of two and a half minutes, to explain why those momentous events, ten years ago, changed the world in a manner that it no longer makes sense in terms common prior to 2007. Of why I claim […]
Απάντηση στον κ. Τσίπρα στην δήλωσή του για την επιλογή μου ως Υπ.Οικ. – επιστολή στον Guardian, 24η Ιουλίου 2017
, 24/07/2017
Επιστολή μου στον Guardian σε απάντηση της δήλωσης του Αλέξη Τσίπρα ότι ήμουν η σωστή επιλογή αλλά, παράλληλα, ότι το σχέδιο μου ήταν απορριπτέο 24η Ιουλίου 2017 Σε συνέντευξη του στον Guardian, ο έλληνας πρωθυπουργός, Αλέξης Τσίπρας, έχοντας παραδεχθεί ότι έκανε «μεγάλα λάθη», ρωτήθηκε αν το να με διορίσει πρώτο του Υπουργό Οικονομικών ήταν ένα […]
Mr Tsipras’ insightful incoherence – my reply in The Guardian, 24th July 20176
, 24/07/2017
In a Guardian interview (24 July), the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, having admitted to “big mistakes”, was asked if appointing me as his first finance minister was one of them. According to the interviewer, Mr Tsipras said “Varoufakis … was the right choice for an initial strategy of ‘collision politics’, but he dismisses the […]
Help separate truth from motivated error: My acceptance speech at Sussex University on the occasion of an honourary doctorate conferment
, 23/07/2017
On 20th July 2017, the University of Sussex conferred upon me the degree of Doctor of the University Honoris Causa. Professor Andrea Cornwall, who kindly presented me to the Chancellor and the Congregation, explained the rationale of the award: “[F]or his contribution to our understanding of the global economy, for his advocacy of an authentic internationalism, […]
“I was right about the debt, and you know it!” – My reply to Kathimerini’s latest tirade
, 20/07/2017
In a recent article entitled “Varoufakis and the 2015 debt talks – behind closed doors”, published on the English language site of Kathimerini, Yannis Paleologos is putting forward an innovative new criticism of my 2015 negotiating stance regarding Greece’s public debt. His criticism’s first leg is standard troika-speak, insisting that by pressing for a […]
Bifo: “I am no longer a European given Europe’s daily crimes” & “thus I resign from DiEM25”. And my response
, 08/07/2017
A few days ago, I received a letter from Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi that works like a punch-in-the-stomach type of wake up call addressed to all Europeans. To crown its tough message, Bifo concludes that his conscience cannot fathom being a European any longer, given Europe’s daily crimes against logic and humanity. Thus, Bifo concludes, he […]
A New Deal for the 21st Century – op-ed in the New York Times 6th July 2017
, 07/07/2017
ATHENS — The recent elections in France and Britain have confirmed the political establishment’s simultaneous vulnerability and vigor in the face of a nationalist insurgency. This contradiction is the motif of the moment — personified by the new French president, Emmanuel Macron, whose résumé made him a darling of the elites but who rode a wave of anti-establishment enthusiasm […]
Adults in the Room – reviewed by Adam Tooze (Columbia University)
, 02/07/2017
Reading Varoufakis: Frustrated Strategist of Greek Financial Deterrence (click here for the original site) by Adam Tooze Adam Tooze holds the Shelby Cullom Davis chair of History at Columbia University and serves as Director of the European Institute. He is currently at work on a history of the global financial crisis 2008-2018, which will appear […]
Η Βρετανία πρέπει να μάθει το μάθημά της από την Ελλάδα, και να έχει Plan Β όπως ο Βαρουφάκης – Wolfgang Munchau στους Financial Times της 25ης Ιουνίου 2017
, 28/06/2017
Γιατί οι Βρετανοί θα έπρεπε να συμβουλευτούν τον πρώην Υπουργό Οικονομικών της Ελλάδας, για να χαράξουν στρατηγική στο παζάρι με την ΕΕ. Η ανάγκη για Plan B του Γιάνη Βαρουφάκη. Γράφει ο Βόλφγκανγκ Μουνχάου. του Wolfgang Münchau [Το άρθρο βρίσκεται εδώ και μεταφράστηκε/δημοσιεύτηκε από το EURO2day] Οι ηγέτες που καλούνται να προσδιορίσουν τη στρατηγική των διαπραγματεύσεων […]
Europe’s Gradualist Fallacy – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 28/06/2017
ATHENS – Europe is at the mercy of a common currency that not only was unnecessary for European integration, but that is actually undermining the European Union itself. So what should be done about a currency without a state to back it – or about the 19 European states without a currency that they control? […]
LIBERATION: Bruno Le Maire dans les pas de Yánis Varoufákis?
, 14/06/2017
Le ministre de l’Economie va proposer une indexation du remboursement de la dette grecque en fonction de la croissance du pays. Neuf thérapies en forme d’austérité budgétaire, trois plans d’aides, un changement de gouvernement et, au bout du compte, un énorme fiasco. Malgré l’obstination de la «troïka» (BCE, FMI et Commission européenne), qui n’a cessé d’imposer (le pistolet […]
On Documenta 14, Athens – in conversation with iLiana Fokianaki, Art Agenda
, 12/06/2017
“We Come Bearing Gifts”—iLiana Fokianaki and Yanis Varoufakis on Documenta 14 Athens Created in 1955 by artist and curator Arnold Bode, Documenta sought to advance the cultural reconstruction of Germany within the postwar European order. Reoccurring every five years, it has since unfolded into a periodic forum for contemporary art. When Adam Szymczyk was appointed artistic director […]
John Kampfner’s review of Adults in the Room – The Observer
, 15/05/2017
Maybe Barack Obama isn’t such a saint after all. Before welcoming Greece’s embattled finance minister to the Oval Office, the then president told his Greek-American audience: “I might as well walk up to him and ask to borrow some money.” The presidential joke fell flat. Greece had become the object of mirth and bullying by […]