Essays
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 […]
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 […]