Essays
A New Approach to Eurozone Sovereign Debt – op-ed in Project Syndicate
, 17/08/2015
My latest column for Project Syndicate is now out. Click here for the Project Syndicate page or read on:
Varoufakis and Lamont interviewed on Radio 4 on their peculiar political friendship
, 17/08/2015
Further to this piece on my unlikely friendship with Lord Lamont, the BBC’s Radio 4 interviewed us, together. To hear the interview, on World At One, click on the play button below.
Greece’s Third MoU (Memorandum of Understading) annotated by Yanis Varoufakis
, 17/08/2015
The Third Greek MoU is now enshrined in Greek Law. Written in troika-speak it is almost impossible to decypher by those not speaking this unappetising language. Click here for the complete MoU text annotated liberally by yours truly – in pdf form. It is best read in conjunction with my annotated version of the EuroSummit Agreement […]
Vindicated, while Lagarde emerges a loser? – David Marsh in MarketWatch
, 04/08/2015
In his Monday column on MarketWatch David Marsh entitled his opinion piece: “Varoufakis vidicated, while Lagarde emerges as a loser”. Of course the point is not whether I have, or have not, been vindicated. The crucial issue concerns the viability, or otherwise, of the latest Greek deal. From day 1 I have been arguing that Ms […]
Death by Debt: My Response to The German Finance Ministry, by Jeffrey Sachs
, 01/08/2015
Dr. Ludger Schuknecht, senior economist at the Germany Finance Ministry, explains his ministry’s viewpoint regarding Greece. This viewpoint essentially holds that Eurozone countries should live within their means; adjust to their debt burdens; and take their reform medicine as needed. If they do so, they will be successful, as illustrated by Ireland, Spain, and Portugal. Greece […]
Something is rotten in the eurozone kingdom – my op-ed in the Financial Times
, 01/08/2015
Plan would have eased Greece’s chronic liquidity shortage, writes Yanis Varoufakis in the Financial Times. A paradox lurks in the foundations of the eurozone. Governments in the monetary union lack a central bank that has their back, while the central bank lacks a government to support it.
In favour of Varoufakis’ Plan B – by Paul Tyson
, 01/08/2015
In a recently released recording of a teleconference between Yanis Varoufakis and a group of hedge fund managers, Mr Varoufakis spoke frankly about the contingency plans he had developed when he was the Finance Minister.
Yanis Varoufakis is being pilloried for doing what had to be done – by Philippe Legrain in The Guardian
, 01/08/2015
For the Guardian site click here. Or…
In… my defence – by Mohamed El Erian
, 30/07/2015
In Defense of Varoufakis by MOHAMED A. EL-ERIAN Click here for the Project Syndicate site. Or…
A Most Peculiar Friendship
, 30/07/2015
Crises sever old bonds. But they also forge splendid new friendships. Over the past months one such friendship has struck me as a marvellous reflection of the new possibilities that Europe’s crisis has spawned. When I was living in Britain, between 1978 and 1988, Lord (then Norman) Lamont represented everything that I opposed. Even though I […]
EU refuses to acknowledge mistakes made in Greek bailout – by Richard Koo
, 27/07/2015
Richard Koo sent me recently his latest, Nomura, assessment on Greece and our negotiations with the EU and the IMF. As always, Richard’s views make for fascinating reading. Here is the pdf copy that he has made available to us.
For an alliance of national liberation fronts – by Stefano Fassina MP
, 27/07/2015
Stefano Fassina, MP and former Deputy Finance Minister of Italy, kindly sent me the following opinion piece. While convinced that the “controlled disintegration of the eurozone” that he advocates is pregnant with great dangers, this is a debate that Europeans cannot eschew.
Romantiker gegen Pragmatiker – Die Zeit
, 25/07/2015
Yanis Varoufakis erklärt in einem neuen Buch seinem Kind, warum die Griechen nichts für ihre Situation können. VON ADAM SOBOCZYNSKI (Die Zeit site) DIE ZEIT Nº 28/201524. Juli 2015 15:11 Uhr 139 Kommentare Der ehemalige griechische Finanzminister Yanis Varoufakis | © dpa
A new kind of politics? By Paul Tyson, in opendemocracy.net
, 25/07/2015
Varoufakis is an exception to the norm precisely because he really believes in representative democracy. (Click here for the opendemocracy.net site)
Open Letter to Yanis Varoufakis & Dominique Strauss-Khan from Giulio Tremonti & Paolo Savona
, 24/07/2015
Rome, July 24, 2015 To Yanis Varoufakis and Dominique Strauss-Khan
Europe’s Vindictive Privatization Plan for Greece – Project Syndicate
, 21/07/2015
For the Project Syndicate site click here. Or…
Why I voted NO (translated by ThePressProject International)
, 21/07/2015
Why I voted NO In an article which was published on Saturday in EfSyn, the former Finance Minister, Y.Varoufakis attempts to explain the reasons why he voted ΄no΄ to the “prior actions” deal that the government brought to the parliament.
Dominique Strauss Kahn, addressing "German friends"
, 20/07/2015
“In counting our billions instead of using them to build, in refusing to accept an albeit obvious loss by constantly postponing any commitment on reducing the debt, in preferring to humiliate a people because they are unable to reform, and putting resentments – however justified – before projects for the future, we are turning our […]
Dr Schäuble’s Plan for Europe: Do Europeans approve? – English version of my article in Die Zeit
, 17/07/2015
On 15th July 2015 Die Zeit published this piece. Here is the original English language version.
The Euro-Summit ‘Agreement’ on Greece – annotated by Yanis Varoufakis
, 15/07/2015
The Euro Summit statement (or Terms of Greece’s Surrender – as it will go down in history) follows, annotated by yours truly. The original text is untouched with my notes confined to square brackets (and in red). Read and weep… [For a pdf copy click here.]
Yanis Varoufakis opens up about his five month battle to save Greece – New Statesman, 13 July 2015
, 13/07/2015
In his first interview since resigning, Greece’s former Finance Minister says the Eurogroup is “completely and utterly” controlled by Germany, Greece was “set up” and last week’s referendum was wasted. the full Q&A transcript of our interview with Varoufakis here. Greece has finally reached an agreement with its creditors. The specifics have not yet been published, but […]
Behind Germany's refusal to grant Greece debt relief – Op-Ed in The Guardian
, 11/07/2015
Tomorrow’s EU Summit will seal Greece’s fate in the Eurozone. As these lines are being written, Euclid Tsakalotos, my great friend, comrade and successor as Greece’s Finance Ministry is heading for a Eurogroup meeting that will determine whether a last ditch agreement between Greece and our creditors is reached and whether this agreement contains the degree […]
GREECE: Still raging against the dying of the light
, 05/07/2015
In 1967 foreign powers, in cahoots with local stooges, used the tanks to overthrow Greek democracy. In 2015 foreign powers, in cahoots with local stooges, used the banks to overthrow the Greek government. In 1967 democracy’s defenders were in disarray and the prisons, the death squads, and the torturers were working overtime. In 2015 none […]
IMF backs (ever so peculiarly) the SYRIZA government’s debt assessment
, 03/07/2015
Debt relief ought to be at the centre of negotiations over a New Deal for Greece. That has been our government’s mantra from 26th of January, our first day on the job. Exactly five months later, on 26th of June, the IMF has conceded the point (as evidenced earlier today by the NYT) – on […]