European Crisis
The Eurogroup fails Europe once again. Brace for a hideous EU recession
, 17/03/2020
The Eurogroup met yesterday, Monday 16th March, to hammer out its coordinated fiscal response to the massive recession already in progress following the lockdown of much of Europe’s society. The task they faced is enormous: If sales, tourism, services etc. fall by 50% for just one month (which is certain), and then by 25% for […]
EUROLEAKS: Letting light in to how crucial decisions are made (or not) in the EU
, 11/03/2020
On March 14, for the first time, European citizens will be able to take a front seat in the meetings where their future is decided: DiEM25’s #EuroLeaks will take YOU inside the Eurogroup that has no standing in law, but where the most far-reaching decisions about all our lives are made. WHY AND WHY NOW? – […]
DiEM25: Resisting the militarisation of the Greek-Turkish border under a Paneuropean cloud of xenophobic hysteria
, 02/03/2020
DiEM25 condemns the militarisation of the Greek-Turkish border, the European Union’s violation of every principle of Humanism, the instrumentalisation of refugees both by the Turkish regime and Brussels, the abandonment of Greek islanders to their own devices – the list goes on and on. DiEM25 calls for an immediate opening of all borders. The Greek-Turkish […]
Euroleaks: Why release? And why now?
, 16/02/2020
During 2015’s first half, as Greece’s finance minister, I participated in thirteen crucial Eurogroup meetings – before the SYRIZA government (disrespecting the referendum result of 5th July) capitulated. The result of that capitulation was my immediate resignation and a permanent austerity program (until… 2060). From the beginning, the first Eurogroup, it was clear that the […]
Time for ECB bonds! (Yes , things are this bad) – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 26/09/2019
ATHENS – During his tenure as President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi forged a variety of weapons that he deployed to shield the eurozone from menacing deflationary forces. Without them, the euro would have been history. However, the deflationary specter haunting Europe was never truly defeated and is now back with considerable vengeance. In the […]
Lagarde at the ECB – my take in The Guardian
, 16/07/2019
Christine Lagarde was a key member of the infamous troika – Greece’s official creditors – who crushed our people’s resistance to perpetual debt bondage. The other key figure alongside the International Monetary Fund’s then managing director was Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, who played a central role in that drama by engineering the closure of […]
A tiny incident at Paris airport that speaks volumes about our Europe – the whole story
, 14/07/2019
Small incidents can pack hefty messages. Yesterday afternoon, a tiny drama unfolded at Paris airport, as I was disembarking the airplane that had brought me over from Athens. It speaks volumes about the state of our European Union and the drift toward inane authoritarianism. A French policeman, for no obvious reason, took it to himself […]
MeRA25: Greek progressives’ chance to take the fight against austerity back into Parliament – JACOBIN
, 11/06/2019
Amid the bad results for the Left in the European elections, the Greek outcome was particularly poignant. In the last such contest in 2014, Syriza rode the revolt against austerity to become the largest single party, in its final step toward national office. Five years later, in last month’s election, it finished ten points behind the […]
A Greek Canary in a Global Goldmine – Project Syndicate op-ed 17 May 2019
, 20/05/2019
ATHENS – The eurozone country that has become synonymous with insolvency is today proving to be a treasure-trove for some. Traders who bought Greek assets a few years ago have good reason to celebrate, having banked returns that no other market could have provided. But, as is often the case, an opportunity that seems too […]
A Dream of Spring: Emma Steiner interviews DiEM25’s David Adler
, 18/04/2019
Yanis Varoufakis and the DiEM25 movement are making headlines with their call for a more democratic and just European Union. Varoufakis brings his experience dealing with the EU as the former finance minister of Greece to the table for the European Spring, a European Parliament electoral slate that includes an ambitious and audacious vision for […]
FT Alphachat 28 MAR 2019: On Democracy, Europe, the UK and Greece
, 05/04/2019
Alphaville’s Jemima Kelly and Izabella Kaminska sat down with Yanis Varoufakis, former finance minister of Greece and current organiser of a trans-European group, DiEM25, of what he calls “radical Europeanists” — in favour of union, without deflation or austerity. Mr Varoufakis answers criticism from the left, pointing out that even if the euro or the […]
Why the Deutsche Bank merger with Commerzbank must be stopped – HANDELSBLATT (English & German)
, 27/03/2019
The official story is one of creating a national champion, a German bank large enough to compete with American investment banks. The truth is far less heroic and a lot more sordid than that. Here is why Demokratie in Europa is campaigning against this merger. Both banks are zombies. Commerzbank has gone through eight years […]
A European Spring is possible – The Nation
, 14/03/2019
The 2008 global financial crisis—the modern 1929 crash—set off a vicious chain reaction across Europe. By 2010 it had irreparably damaged the foundations of the eurozone, causing the establishment to bend its own rules and commit crimes against logic in order to bail out its banker friends. By 2013 the neoliberal ideology that had legitimized […]
The European Spring holds the answer to the fragmenting EU’s plight – The Guardian, 11 MAR 2019
, 11/03/2019
The European Union is fragmenting at a time when Europeans need it the most. Emmanuel Macron is right to point this out. But he is wrong to push another top-down agenda that lacks credibility, fails to speak to European’s concerns, and entrenches the democratic deficit at the heart of the EU. By entrusting Europe’s renewal to its […]
What’s wrong in Europe today and how to fix it tomorrow morning – Berlin speech
, 07/03/2019
Demokratie in Europa is DiEM25’s new political party in Germany. Demokratie in Europa is running in the European Parliament election this coming May as part of our EUROPEAN SPRING that is campaigning across Europe on the basis of our transnational NEW DEAL FOR EUROPE. In this Berlin speech, and in my capacity as a candidate for MEP […]
Europe’s Leaders Are Aiding Italy’s Populists – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 03/03/2019
The fact that Italy’s public debt has a lower credit rating than private debt is a reflection not of public debt’s intrinsic inferiority but of a political choice made by European leaders. And, by bolstering an authoritarian politician, that choice is now blowing back on them. ATHENS – Italy is now the frontline in the […]
Our moment in history, and what must be done. Théâtre du Rond-Point, Paris, Monday 18/2, 20.00
, 11/02/2019
Monday 18 February, 20.00, live from Théâtre du Rond-Point. A discussion between Aude Lancelin and Yanis Varoufakis on politics and philosophy. Follow on @LeMediaTV.
DiEM25 & the EUROPEAN SPRING event on austerity, xenophobia, the euro and the environment – Thu 24/1, Berlin
, 20/01/2019
With xenophobic and authoritarian forces rising across the EU, societies in stagnation levels, and climate catastrophe on the horizon, it’s time to stop what we’re doing and rethink. The EUROPEAN SPRING, that will be contesting the May 2019 European elections in 11 countries, brings together politicians and activists to give a new, European perspective on these critical issues. Program: […]
At the Edinburgh Festival, in conversation with Jeremy Corbyn on reviving socialism, with Maria Alyokhina (Pussy Riot) on despotism, and with Shami Chakrabarti on liberty
, 08/01/2019
In 2018, the good people behind the Edinburgh Festival kindly invited me to host a series of discussions under the title KILLING DEMOCRACY? My remit was: Further to explore the question of whether the current form of financialised capitalism is devouring democracy, reflecting on my work with the Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM25). In a series […]
DiEM25’s European New Deal plan can succeed where Macron and Piketty failed – The Guardian
, 14/12/2018
If Brexit demonstrates that leaving the EU is not the walk in the park that Eurosceptics promised, Emmanuel Macron’s current predicament proves that blind European loyalism is, similarly, untenable. The reason is that the EU’s architecture is equally difficult to deconstruct, sustain and reform. While Britain’s political class is, rightly, in the spotlight for having made a mess […]
On Europe’s austerity drive and DiEM25 – an OECD podcast
, 15/10/2018
One country that symbolised the crisis of the last 10 years was Greece. Its insolvency embarked the country on a long regime of bail-outs and austerity. This August, Greece officially emerged from the crisis, with the OECD forecasting GDP growth again. So, did the austerity work? The former Greek finance minister and co-founder of the […]
The 5S-Lega Italian government is continuing the failed Renzi strategy of demanding the right to bend the fiscal rules without demanding a re-assessment of the fiscal rules – interviewed for AGI by Arcangelo Rociola
, 03/10/2018
This is the English language (original) interview with Arcangelo Rociola, published on the AGI site in Italian, on the Italian government’s clash with Brussels over its budget deficit, the plans for a flat tax (that is not flat) and a universal income (that will never be universal), the 5S Movement’s claim to the mantle of the […]
