Essays
Congratulations, President Macron. Now We Oppose You! – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 15/05/2017
ATHENS – Prior to the second round of the French Presidential election, DiEM25 (the pan-European movement of democrats, mostly of the left, that I helped to found) promised Emmanuel Macron that we would “mobilize fully to help” him defeat Marine Le Pen. This we did – incurring the wrath of many on the left – […]
Discussing Adults in the Room with Phillip Adams, Late Night Live, ABC Radio National
, 11/05/2017
Insider account of Europe’s Establishment Economist and academic Yanis Varoufakis was always a political outsider, who gained notoriety when he challenged Europe’s political leaders, the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the IMF during Greece’s economic crisis. He exposed these leaders and institutions as being self-serving, while not considering the disastrous effects of austerity […]
Paul Mason’s review of Adults in the Room in The Guardian
, 03/05/2017
Yanis Varoufakis once bought me a gin and tonic. His wife once gave me a cup of tea. While dodging my questions, as finance ministers are obliged to, he never once told me an outright lie. And I’ve hosted him at two all-ticketed events. I list these transactions because of what I am about to […]
The six Brexit traps that will defeat Theresa May – Guardian op-ed 3 May 2017
, 03/05/2017
“It’s yours against mine.” That’s how Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, put it to me during our first encounter in early 2015 – referring to our respective democratic mandates. A little more than two years later, Theresa May is trying to arm herself with a clear democratic mandate ostensibly to bolster her negotiating position with European powerbrokers – […]
Why we support Macron in the second round – op-ed in Le Monde (English original) and DiEM25 France in Mediapart
, 02/05/2017
In today’s Le Monde I call upon French progressives to vote for Macron in the second round of France’s Presidential election. The article explains my recommendation to French voters and finishes off with the following promise to Emmanuel: “I shall mobilise fully to help you beat Le Pen with the same strength that I shall […]
Daily Telegraph’s serialisation of Adults in the Room
, 29/04/2017
Prior to the publication of my ADULTS IN THE ROOM, the Daily Telegraph serialised ten of the events the book turns on: A strange visit by Merkel’s go-between The blocked Chinese deal The key Berlin meeting Osborne meeting Tapped phone calls Coup d’état: How the government overthrew the… voters Dressing with dash: The story of that leather jacket The […]
, 06/04/2017
[Αναδημοσίευση από το ThePressProject άρθρου που αρχικά δημοσιεύτηκε στα αγγλικά στο Project Syndicate] Mήπως γιόρταζαν την αποσύνθεση της Ευρώπης, την οποία τώρα αποκαλούν Ευρώπη «πολλών ταχυτήτων» ή «μεταβλητή γεωμετρία»; Ή μήπως βρίσκονταν εκεί για να επικροτήσουν την «business as usual» προσέγγιση τους σε κάθε κρίση – μία προσέγγιση που έχει πυροδοτήσει τις φλόγες του ξενοφοβικού εθνικισμού […]
Europe’s Illiberal Establishment – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 03/04/2017
ATHENS – On March 25, Europe’s leaders convened in the birthplace of the “European project” to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. But what exactly was there to celebrate? Were they reveling in Europe’s disintegration, which they now call “multi-speed” or “variable geometry” Europe? Or were they there to applaud their business-as-usual […]
PM Theresa May has miscalculated – Op-ed in THE MIRROR
, 02/04/2017
Theresa May has miscalculated her Brexit strategy, says the former Greek finance minister who handled his country’s EU negotiations. Yanis Varoufakis, writing exclusively for the Mirror, says the PM’s threat of a “ hard Brexit ” will not make Britain’s departure any easier. Mr Varoufakis said: “By making a hard Brexit the default of the negotiating […]
How does the triggering of article 50 look from Europe? Op-ed, The Guardian
, 02/04/2017
How do I feel now that article 50 has been triggered? I feel sad that so many good people in Britain will feel so disappointed when they realise that Brexit has not helped them “take back their country”. I feel alarmed that, driven by Brexit, EU leaders chose its 60th anniversary, last Saturday, to embrace […]
CNN op-ed following Article 50: The EU cannot survive if it sticks to business as usual
, 02/04/2017
March for a Different Europe in Rome, March 25, 2017. From DiEm25 facebook page. Allowing EU member states to move in different directions and at different speeds is precisely the wrong way to address the differing concerns of Europeans living in different countries – and it seems an odd way to unite them behind a […]
Socialising androids – Two Project Syndicate op-eds & one Guardian commentary
, 14/03/2017
Click here for my Project Syndicate op-ed in which I reply to Bill Gates’ proposal for a tax on robots, counter-proposing the idea first canvassed here of a universal basic dividend from a public share trust fund. See also this commentary in The Guardian.
EU, Brexit, Greece, the Left’s relationship with the State & Ireland: Long interview with Ben Lowry
, 25/02/2017
For the first part of the interview on News Letter’s site click here. For the second part here. Or…
Brexit – an unorthodox perspective | Guardian Live event
, 20/02/2017
27th January 2017 Srećko Horvat, a Croat philosopher, Elif Shafak, renowned Turkish novelist, and Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s former finance minister, bring to this conversation an intriguing perspective. As intellectuals who know Britain well, they understand first hand the perils of nationalism, disintegration, isolationism and marginalisation. They place post-Brexit Britain in a context informed by a […]
Mr Draghi, what are you afraid of? Release #TheGreekFiles!
, 19/02/2017
Join the campaign to demand that the ECB publish the legal opinion it commissioned on whether its closure of Greece’s banks in 2015 was… legal. CLICK HERE!
Greece’s Perpetual Crisis
, 14/02/2017
ATHENS – Since the summer of 2015, Greece has (mostly) dropped out of the news, but not because its economic condition has stabilized. A prison is not newsworthy as long as the inmates suffer quietly. It is only when they stage a rebellion, and the authorities crack down, that the satellite trucks appear. The […]
A New Deal to Save Europe
, 14/02/2017
LONDON – “I don’t care about what it will cost. We took our country back!” This is the proud message heard throughout England since the Brexit referendum last June. And it is a demand that is resonating across the continent. Until recently, any proposal to “save” Europe was regarded sympathetically, albeit with skepticism about its […]
A New Deal to Save Europe – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 23/01/2017
LONDON – “I don’t care about what it will cost. We took our country back!” This is the proud message heard throughout England since the Brexit referendum last June. And it is a demand that is resonating across the continent. Until recently, any proposal to “save” Europe was regarded sympathetically, albeit with skepticism about its […]
Ireland may end up as collateral damage in Brexit talks – in The Journal
, 23/01/2017
Click here or…
We need an alternative to Trump’s nationalism. It isn’t the status quo – The Guardian, op-ed
, 22/01/2017
The answer to neoliberalism’s Waterloo cannot be the retreat to a barricaded nation-state and the pitting of ‘our’ people against ‘others’ fenced off by tall walls Click here for The Guardian – or…
Brexit: An unorthodox view – a Guardian Live event, 27th January 2017
, 22/01/2017
With Srećko Horvat, Elif Shafak, Yanis Varoufakis & Owen Jones A troubled Britain is on its way out of a troubled European Union. Disintegration and xenophobia are in the air. The government in London is in disarray. But so is every other government in Europe, not to mention the European Commission whose authority is tending […]
Greece’s perpetual crisis will not end via one-off handouts. It will end only when Athens ends the perpetual lie.
, 22/12/2016
ATHENS – Since the summer of 2015, Greece has (mostly) dropped out of the news, but not because its economic condition has stabilized. A prison is not newsworthy as long as the inmates suffer quietly. It is only when they stage a rebellion, and the authorities crack down, that the satellite trucks appear. [To read […]
Becoming popular by opposing populism: A progressive’s task – The Guardian
, 20/12/2016
A few days ago I received an email from the Guardian: “We’re putting a panel together of writers and thinkers following the announcement that Jeremy Corbyn is planning to relaunch his image and policies as a leftwing populist. We are asking for 300 words in response to the question, “What should Corbyn’s leftwing populism look […]
Democratising Europe – interviewed by James Lock for NOW THEN magazine
, 10/12/2016
In recent years we have seen far more of the workings behind the curtain of neoliberalism than we ever have before. This is in part, I believe, due to the work of Yanis Varoufakis. A Greek economist educated in Britain, Varoufakis first made headlines for his integral role as Finance Minister for the Syriza government […]