Tag Archives: European Crisis

In recent years we have seen far more of the workings behind the curtain of neoliberalism than we ever have before. This is in part, I believe, due to the work of Yanis Varoufakis. A Greek economist educated in Britain, Varoufakis first made headlines for his integral role as Finance Minister for the Syriza government of Greece between January and September 2015. In February 2016, with the support of progressive leaders, academics, artists and activists across Europe, he initiated the...

The book will be launched at 19.00 on 12th December 2016 at Parnassos Hall, Plateia Karitsi 8. Speakers include Nicholas Theocarakis (University of Athens), Thanos Mikroutsikos (Composer) and Kostas Vaxevanis (Journalist and publisher). Video messages by Noam Chomsky, James K. Galbraith, Jeff Sachs and Slavoj Zizek. (Please note that this event will be conducted in Greek)

On 4th December 2016 I delivered the keynote at the RiskMinds International risk management conference in Amsterdam. A summary of my talk, compiled by the organisers, follows. What’s worse? Being a finance minister of a bankrupt state, or a risk manager in this environment? Tuesday morning’s guest speaker at RiskMinds in Amsterdam, former finance minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis, wasn’t sure. “We seem to be having a perfect storm,” he began. “A political class which is very rapidly...

DiEM25 is helping to take the shameful EU-Turkey refugee deal to Europe’s courts in a bid to save the life of one man, Shabbir Iqbal, and improve the lives of millions. #StopTheDeal [embedded content] What is this campaign? On March 20, 2016, the controversial EU-Turkey Agreement came into effect. It specifies that all ‘new irregular migrants’ – a euphemism for refugees and asylum-seekers – arriving in Greece from this date onwards will be returned to Turkey. The EU-Turkey deal is...

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Democracy starts at home! So, at DiEM25 we decide on the movement’s important policy positions by means of an internal vote/referendum that follows a free and frank internal exchange. Below you will find the four options that our members are currently voting for (there will be a runoff vote if none of them secure 50% of the votes plus 1). You will also find a briefing on the state-of-play with the Brexit process (or is it shambles?). Click here a pdf copy of post-Brexit analysis/briefing...

So, the European Commission, at last, concluded that the eurozone’s fiscal stance is too austerian. “Better late than never”, some will say. Alas, this is too optimistic a take. The reason? The Commission is irrelevant and it knows it. Decisions of fiscal policy are now taken in the eurogroup where Commissioner Moscovici has next to no gravitas. Moreover, the Commission seems to know this, putting forward a proposal that it knows will be ignored. “…Member States with further consolidation...

https://varoufakis.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/hamburg-diem25-event-15-nov-2016.mp3

https://varoufakis.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/bbc-business-report-nov-15-2016-15_11_38.wav

I had no doubt Donald Trump would win, just like I had no doubt Brexit would happen, so maybe I’m not as shell-shocked as you,” says Yanis Varoufakis. The former Greek finance minister is speaking to me several days after the Republican candidate’s historic victory. He doesn’t sound smug about being so prescient, more resigned, deflated, defeated. The left has been here before. Over the course of an hour-long conversation, Varoufakis soothed my caffeine-jangled nerves with the thought...