Project Syndicate
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 […]
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.
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.
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. […]
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? […]
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 – […]
, 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 […]
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.
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 […]
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 […]
Trump, the Dragon, and the Minotaur – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 28/11/2016
ATHENS – If Donald Trump understands anything, it is the value of bankruptcy and financial recycling. He knows all about success via strategic defaults, followed by massive debt write-offs and the creation of assets from liabilities. But does he grasp the profound difference between a developer’s debt and the debt of a large economy? […]
The Universal Right to Capital Income – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 31/10/2016
ATHENS – The right to laziness has traditionally been only for the propertied rich, whereas the poor have had to struggle for decent wages and working conditions, unemployment and disability insurance, universal health care, and other accoutrements of a dignified life. The idea that the poor should be granted an unconditional income sufficient to […]
Apple, Brussels, and Ireland’s Bruised Sovereignty – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 29/09/2016
ATHENS – Despite their unequivocal Europeanism, the Irish have been serially mistreated by the European Union. When Irish voters rejected the Treaty of Lisbon in 2008, the EU forced them to vote again until they delivered the “right” outcome. A year later, when private Irish banks imploded, threatening their (mainly) German private creditors with […]
Democratising Europe – a transnational project? A debate with openDemocracy
, 13/09/2016
YANIS VAROUFAKIS, ROSEMARY BECHLER, ALEX SAKALIS, and ANTHONY BARNETT 13 September 2016 (Click here for the openDemocracy site) What role does national self-determination and ‘self-government’ play in European and human emancipation today? Yanis Varoufakis replies for DiEM25. Yanis Varoufakis has recently been engaged in debating this key question for our times with the left. (See more.) […]
The Politics of Negative Interest Rates – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 23/08/2016
ATHENS – Objects of desire come at a cost. Only bad things, like toxic waste, have a negative price, the equivalent of a fee payable to anyone willing to make them disappear. Does this mean that negative interest rates embody a new perspective on money – that it has gone “bad”? [To read on, click […]
Building a Progressive International – op-ed Project Syndicate
, 31/07/2016
ATHENS – Politics in the advanced economies of the West is in the throes of a political shakeup unseen since the 1930s. The Great Deflation now gripping both sides of the Atlantic is reviving political forces that had lain dormant since the end of World War II. Passion is returning to politics, but not in […]
The Right Left for Europe: In response to leftwing Brexiters, Grexiters etc. – Project Syndicate Op-Ed
, 25/06/2016
ATHENS – The United Kingdom’s referendum on whether to leave the European Union created odd bedfellows – and some odder adversaries. As Tory turned mercilessly against Tory, the schism in the Conservative establishment received much attention. But a parallel (thankfully more civilized) split afflicted my side: the left. Having campaigned against “Leave” for several months […]
The ECB’s Illusory Independence – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 06/06/2016
ATHENS – A commitment to the independence of central banks is a vital part of the creed that “serious” policymakers are expected to uphold (privatization, labor-market “flexibility,” and so on). But what are central banks meant to be independent of? The answer seems obvious: governments. In this sense, the European Central Bank is the quintessentially independent […]
Imagining a New Bretton Woods – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 08/05/2016
The financial meltdown of 2008 prompted calls for a global financial system that curtails trade imbalances, moderates speculative capital flows, and prevents systemic contagion. That, of course, was the goal of the original Bretton Woods system. But such a system today would be both untenable and undesirable. So, what might an alternative look like?
Lies, Damn Lies, and European Growth Statistics
, 15/03/2016
ATHENS – “Greece has at last returned to economic growth.” That was the official European Union storyline at the end of 2014. Alas, Greek voters, unimpressed by this rejoicing, ousted the incumbent government and, in January 2015, voted for a new administration in which I served as finance minister. Last week, similarly celebratory reports emanated […]
Real vs Money Incomes – the one thing we need to understand during deflationary times (with an illustration from Greece and Cyprus)
, 13/03/2016
In inflationary times, real income growth is always good news. However, in deflationary times, real income growth may well reflect a deepening recession (or even a depression). This is important to know lest deepening recession is presented as… economic recovery (as has been the EU’s wont in recent times). How can real income growth reflect […]