In 2016, shortly before the EU referendum, Yanis Varoufakis warned that the UK was destined for a “Hotel California Brexit”: it could check out but it could never leave. The former Greek finance minister spoke from experience. In 2015, his efforts to end austerity – “fiscal waterboarding” – were thwarted by the EU (a struggle recorded in his memoir Adults in the Room: My Battle With Europe’s Deep Establishment)....
Read More »“Theresa May’s deal cannot be re-negotiated. It can only be replaced by a Norway Plus, far superior, agreement” – On Newsnight, BBC2 tv
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Read More »The euro and Steve Bannon’s Fascist International – Oxford Union address, 16th November 2018
[embedded content] On 17th October 2018, Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice President of the European Commission, addressed the Oxford Union in support of the motion that “the euro has never been stronger“. Today, Friday 16th November 2018, Steve Bannon is addressing the Oxford Union also. In between, on Wednesday 14th November 2018, I had the opportunity to also address the Oxford Union with the...
Read More »Talking to KPMG about Brexit – 27 September 2018
Whether or not you agree with his politics, there’s no denying that Greece’s one-time Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, offers a lot of food for thought to British businesses. The economist, politician, author and dedicated European reformer addressed our KPMG Executive Exchanges dinner in Leeds in late September. Theresa May, Brexit, Angela Merkel, deflation, the northern powerhouse, idle liquidity and Michel...
Read More »Behind the closed doors of negotiations with the EU? – The Guardian podcast, November 2018
[embedded content] As the Brexit negotiations near crunch point, Theresa May is still battling to keep her party on side as she edges closer to a deal with Brussels. But is it possible to take on the EU in negotiations and win? One man who staked his political career on trying just that was the former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. He tells Anushka Asthana about his gruelling...
Read More »DiEM25’s radical Europeanist political agenda – Interviewed by Jacobin’s David Broder
Last Friday, Yanis Varoufakis was in Italy to promote European Spring, a list of candidates standing across the continent in next May’s European election. The former Greek finance minister visited Rome just days after the European Commission had struck down the Italian government’s budget, sparking further rows over Brussels’ authority to curb member states’ spending. At his press conference, Varoufakis called...
Read More »DiEM25 will contest the European Parliament elections in Italy – Press Conference announcement, Rome, 26th OCT 2018
[embedded content] Ladies and Gentlemen, we are here because Italy is being torn by two destructive forces: Brussels and Salvini. By the failed establishment of Renzi-Merkel-Juncker-Moscovici and by the reckless, racist anti-European Salvini project. Tragically, Brussels and Salvini are working very well together against the interests of Italians in particular and of Europeans in general....
Read More »Video answers to young Germans’ questions about the future, the Left and Europe – Jung & Naiv, Episode 381, filmed in Berlin 17th OCT 2018
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Read More »On Europe’s austerity drive and DiEM25 – an OECD podcast
[embedded content] 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 Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM)...
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