Yanis Varoufakis's Blog, page 129
March 14, 2017
Το πραγματικό δίλημμα με την δήθεν “αξιολόγηση” – στο δελτίο του ΑΝΤ1 14 Μαρτίου 2017
Το ερώτημα που καλούμαστε να απαντήσουμε σήμερα είναι αν το κλείσιμο της “αξιολόγησης” με τους όρους που απαιτούν οι δανειστές θα φέρει την σταθεροποίηση με στόχο την βιωσιμότητα της ελληνικής κοινωνίας εντός της ευρωζώνης. Κυβέρνηση και αντιπολίτευση φαίνεται να συμφωνούν σε αυτό και πρεσβεύουν, ως αποτέλεσμα, ότι το κλείσιμο της “αξιολόγησης” αποτελεί εθνικό καθήκον. Χτες το βράδυ στον ΑΝΤ1 αντέτεινα ότι το κλείσιμο της “αξιολόγησης” θα αποτελέσει μέγα πλήγμα για την χώρα. Η άποψη ότι “καλύτερα μια κακή συμφωνία σήμερα παρά μια καλύτερη αύριο” πρόκειται περί μιας συνεχιζόμενης πλάνης με τεράστιο κόστος για την χώρα. Το κλείσιμο της αξιολόγησης μας προσφέρει μια κακή συμφωνία σήμερα (που μόνο στόχο έχει η τρόικα να αποπληρώσει την τρόικα τον Ιούλιο) που ετοιμάζει το έδαφος για πολύ χειρότερες εξελίξεις στο μέλλον από αυτές που θα είχαμε αν δεν έκλεινε η “αξιολόγηση” μέχρι τον Ιούλιο (και η τρόικα αποτύγχανε να πληρώσει τον… εαυτό της). Όπως έγραφα στην Εφημερίδα των Συντακτών πριν διο βδομάδες:
Είναι αλήθεια ότι πολλές φορές «κάλλιο πέντε και στο χέρι παρά δέκα και καρτέρει». Όμως η λαϊκή ρήση έχει βάση μόνο όταν πρόκειται για την χρονική ακολουθία οφελών, όχι απωλειών. Πράγματι, εάν είναι να πάρουμε κάτι καλό σήμερα που το έχουμε ανάγκη ίσως αξίζει να το κάνουμε αντί να περιμένουμε κάτι καλύτερο που μπορεί να έρθει ή μπορεί και να μην έρθει στο μέλλον. Όντως, το βέλτιστο μπορεί να αποδειχθεί ο χειρότερος εχθρός του καλού.
Όμως, αυτή η ρήση, αυτή η λογική, δεν μας αφορά σήμερα ως χώρα. Και δεν μας αφορά επειδή η επιλογή μας δεν είναι μεταξύ του καλού και του καλύτερου αλλά μεταξύ του κακού σήμερα και του χειρότερου αύριο – μεταξύ μιας πρόσκαιρης ανακούφισης στη βάση αντικοινωνικών μέτρων που θα βαθύνουν την κρίση σύντομα και μιας σύγκρουσης με τον παραλογισμό σήμερα που αποτελεί προαπαιτούμενο για την επιστροφή στην λογική και το τερματισμό πολιτικών που βαθαίνουν την κρίση στο διηνεκές.
Η συλλογή υπογραφών συνεχίζεται: Απαίτησε το δικαίωμά σου να διαβάσεις την γνωμοδότηση για το κλείσιμο των ελληνικών τραπεζών από την EKT
H Ευρώπη διαθέτει μια κεντρική τράπεζα με απεριόριστη δύναμη να κλείνει τις τράπεζες μιας χώρας-μέλους της Ευρωζώνης – την ΕΚΤ. Καμία άλλη κεντρικής τράπεζα δεν έχει τέτοια εξουσία. Για αυτό τον λόγο η ΕΚΤ υποτίθεται ότι θα ήταν μια κεντρική τράπεζα πλήρως ανεξάρτητη από τους πολιτικούς. Όμως, όπως αποδείχτηκε το 2015 με το κλείσιμο των ελληνικών τραπεζών, καμία κεντρική τράπεζα δεν είναι περισσότερο εξαρτημένη από πολιτικούς που αποφασίζουν κεκλεισμένων των θυρών (δηλαδή στο… Eurogroup) από οποιαδήποτε άλλη παγκοσμίως. Αυτός ο συνδυασμός ΑΠΟΛΥΤΗΣ ΙΣΧΥΟΣ και ΑΠΟΛΥΤΗΣ ΕΞΑΡΤΗΣΗΣ καθιστά την ΕΚΤ μεγάλη απειλή για την δημοκρατία στην Ευρώπη.
Σε κάποιο συρτάρι της Ευρωπαϊκής Κεντρικής Τράπεζας υπάρχει μια νομική γνωμάτευση #TheGreekFiles για το εάν οι ενέργειες της ΕΚΤ που οδήγησαν στο κλείσιμο των ελληνικών τραπεζών τον Ιούνιο του 2015 ήταν νόμιμες ή όχι. Έχεις δικαίωμα, ως έλληνας και ευρωπαίος πολίτης, να την διαβάσεις. Όμως η ΕΚΤ σου αρνείται το δικαίωμα αυτό, παρά το γεγονός ότι πληρώθηκε με τα χρήματα των ευρωπαίων φορολογούμενων. Αν επιτρέψουμε στην ΕΚΤ να λειτουργεί στο σκοτάδι και υπό τον συνδυασμό ΑΠΟΛΥΤΗΣ ΙΣΧΥΟΣ και ΑΠΟΛΥΤΗΣ ΕΞΑΡΤΗΣΗΣ που την διέπει, θα έχουμε συνεισφέρει στην διάλυση τη Ευρώπης που ενισχύει ο τρόπος λειτουργίας της ΕΚΤ. Ένα πρώτο, μικρό βήμα προς τον εκδημοκρατισμό, εκπολιτισμό και εξορθολογισμό της Ευρώπης είναι η καμπάνια για την συλλογή υπογραφών πολιτών της Ευρώπης που απαιτούν την δημοσιοποίηση των #TheGreekFiles.
ΥΠΟΓΡΑΨΕ ΠΑΤΩΝΤΑΣ ΕΔΩ
Συνυπογράφοντες: Benoît Hamon (υποψήφιος του Σοσιαλιστικού Κόμματος για την Προεδρία της Γαλλικής Δημοκρατίας), Katja Kipping(Πρόεδρος της Die Linke), Gesine Schwan (δύο φορές υποψήφια του SPD για την Προεδρία της Ομοσπονδιακής Δημοκρατίας της Γερμανίας), Γιάνης Βαρουφάκης (DiEM25)
The campaign goes on: Did the ECB break the law in closing Greece’s banks? Sign the petition today!
Europe has created a central bank with the exorbitant power to close down a member-state’s banks. This central bank, the ECB, was supposed to be independent of politicians. Except that, as the case with closure of the Greek banks in 2015 proves, no central bank has less independence of politicians operating behind closed doors (e.g. the Eurogroup). This combination of EXORBITANT POWER and OPAQUENESS (i.e. LACK OF TRANSPARENCY) makes it impossible even to imagine of European democracy, let alone practise it.
SIGN THE PETITION NOW! CLICK HERE
#TheGreekFiles – Resources
CAMPAIGN SITE: https://diem25.org/thegreekfiles
PETITION: http://www.change.org/thegreekfiles
VAROUFAKIS VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qttt9OHiGG8
DE MASI VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFIvxYWbkfU
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: https://goo.gl/ndJWje
MEDIA INQUIRIES: press@diem25.org
Socialising androids – Two Project Syndicate op-eds & one Guardian commentary
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.
By AnnMarie Welser and Brian Maguire | EURACTIV.com
Greec...
By AnnMarie Welser and Brian Maguire | EURACTIV.com
Greece’s economy suffered a new blow, contracting by 1.2% at the end of 2016, according to revised figures released earlier this week. The figures, published by the Greek statistics agency, Elstat, show it was the worst quarter since the summer of 2015, when the European Central Bank closed the Greek banks. The dramatic bank closures were viewed by many as part of the ‘Troika’ campaign to force Greece into a third bailout, complete with new austerity measures. But was closure process legal and within the ECB’s charter and mandate? ECB President Mario Draghi wasn’t sure; Draghi commissioned an independent legal opinion on this issue. Now, Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek Minister of Finance, and Fabio De Masi, a German, Die Linke MEP, have launched a public campaign demanding the immediate publication of Draghi’s legal opinion. EURACTIV’s Brian Maguire spoke with Varoufakis and De Masi about ECB transparency, the limitations of its mandate, and reform of the eurozone after the Treaty of Rome 60th anniversary celebrations this month.
By AnnMarie Welser and Brian Maguire | EURACTIV.com
Gree...
By AnnMarie Welser and Brian Maguire | EURACTIV.com
Greece’s economy suffered a new blow, contracting by 1.2% at the end of 2016, according to revised figures released earlier this week. The figures, published by the Greek statistics agency, Elstat, show it was the worst quarter since the summer of 2015, when the European Central Bank closed the Greek banks. The dramatic bank closures were viewed by many as part of the ‘Troika’ campaign to force Greece into a third bailout, complete with new austerity measures. But was closure process legal and within the ECB’s charter and mandate? ECB President Mario Draghi wasn’t sure; Draghi commissioned an independent legal opinion on this issue. Now, Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek Minister of Finance, and Fabio De Masi, a German, Die Linke MEP, have launched a public campaign demanding the immediate publication of Draghi’s legal opinion. EURACTIV’s Brian Maguire spoke with Varoufakis and De Masi about ECB transparency, the limitations of its mandate, and reform of the eurozone after the Treaty of Rome 60th anniversary celebrations this month.
March 7, 2017
Varoufakis and De Masi push for ECB transparency – euobserver
BRUSSELS, 8th March 2017
Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has joined forces with the German left-wing MEP Fabio De Masi in a bid to clarify whether the European Central Bank (ECB) had a legal right to limit the liquidity of Greece’s banks in 2015.
The duo told journalists in Brussels on Wednesday (8 March) that they were collecting signatures for a petition to ECB president Mario Draghi, asking him to disclose two legal opinions commissioned by the bank.
The first study was ordered in February, before the ECB decided to limit the access of Greek banks to ECB funding and opted instead to open access to the emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) – a fund with more restrictive access conditions.
The decision was taken a few days after the radical left-wing Syriza party came to power, with Varoufakis as finance minister.
The second study, in June 2015, was about the ECB’s decision to freeze the amount of money available through the ELA after the Greek government’s decision to hold a referendum on the bailout conditions required by the country’s creditors.
The measure was taken over concerns that Greek banks would become insolvent because of the deadlock in bailout talks. It also put more pressure on the Greek government to accept the lenders’ conditions.
To avoid a bank run, where large numbers of people withdraw money from their deposit accounts at the same time, the government introduced capital controls. This meant that Greek people were only able to withdraw a maximum of €60 per day.
The measure prevented a capital run, but also put pressure on Athens to agree to creditors’ terms for a third bailout.
Varoufakis, who was finance minister at the time, said this was a breach of the independence of the bank.
“The ECB has the capacity to close down all the banks of a member state. At the same time, it has a charter which grants it – supposedly – complete independence from politics. And yet, there is no central bank, at least in the West, which has less independence of the political process,” Varoufakis said.
He said Draghi was “completely reliant” on the decisions of an “informal group of finance ministers”, referring to the fact that the Eurogroup, which gathers the finance ministers of the 19 eurozone countries, isn’t enshrined in EU treaties.
“It is apparent that Draghi didn’t feel that the was on solid legal ground when proceeding with the closing of Greek banks,” Varoufakis said.
When a Greek journalist noted that Varoufakis had himself signed the legal act that imposed capital controls, Varoufakis replied: “I signed the death certificate, I did not commit the murder.”
“On 21 June, the ECB made a decision which ensured that the following Monday morning banks would run out of cash, in other words that they would close. It was a decision by our government that because banks would anyway close as a result of the ECB decision, they would not open to avoid civic unrest and putting bank clerks in harm’s way,” he added.
He then called the journalist’s question a “campaign of misinformation” that blamed the victim, instead of coming to terms with “what really matters” – the question of the ECB’s independence.
Professional privilege
Fabio De Masi already asked Draghi for the opinions in September 2015. But the ECB chief, in a letter made public by the MEP, said the bank does not plan to publish the legal opinions because this would “undermine the ECB’s ability to obtain uncensored, objective and comprehensive legal advice, which is essential for well-informed and comprehensive deliberations of its decision-making bodies”.
“Legal opinions provided by external lawyers and related legal advice are protected by legal professional privilege (the so-called ‘attorney-client privilege’) in accordance with European Union case law,” Draghi said.
“Those opinions were drafted in full independence, on the understanding that they can only be disclosed by the addressee and only shared with people who need to know in order to take reasoned decisions on the issues at stake,” he added.
The campaigners are now collecting signatures for a freedom of information request. They said they will go to court if the ECB fails to fulfil their demands.
Around 25,000 people have already signed the petition, which was launched last month.
Supporters include French socialist presidential candidate, Benoit Hamon; German veteran social democrat, Gesine Schwan; and the co-chair of German left-wing party Die Linke, Katja Kipping.
March 6, 2017
The Guardian on the paperback edition of ‘And the Weak Suffer What They Must?’
Click here for The Guardian site. Or…
Writing a book should be a life-changing experience for its author. This book was no exception: it was as if, halfway through writing it, the subject matter jumped off the page and demanded a real-life response. I soon found myself in the belly of the beast I had been writing about.
I started researching and writing And the Weak Suffer What They Must? in response to a series of questions. Why is the European Union disintegrating (Brexit being the first symptom of its malaise)? Why is Europe so clearly failing to emulate the US, which also began life as a loose confederacy of fractious states before consolidating magnificently in response to its various existential crises?
While researching these questions my own country, Greece, was already becoming the sacrificial canary in the coalmine. This was an early warning that the EU was incapable of turning the 2008 financial crisis into a programme of consolidation, opting instead for a self-defeating mixture of authoritarianism and incompetence.
Soon after I finished the book’s sixth chapter, which tells the story of how countries like Greece were being marched off the cliff by self-defeating austerity policies, accelerating the EU’s fragmentation, all of a sudden duty called. On New Year’s Day 2015 I had to stop writing and throw myself into a short election campaign that would see me installed as Greece’s finance minister. My book’s subject matter had indeed jumped out of my laptop and demanded that I put, so to speak, my money where my mouth was.
During the six months I spent in government I strove to strike a deal that would be mutually beneficial for Greece and the EU – an agreement that would begin the healing process of a Europe already at an advanced stage of disintegration. Brussels, Berlin and Frankfurt responded with indescribable brutality, as if intent on quickening the breakup of the EU.
By the summer of 2015, the writing was on the wall: Greece would be locked into a debtor’s prison and I, refusing to sign the surrender documents, resigned my ministry. The EU would again pretend that it had solved a crisis by throwing new debt into the bottomless pit of unpayable older debts. And the peoples of Europe would lose what little confidence they had left in the EU’s institutions.
Within weeks of Greece’s fresh humiliation, countless refugees were being washed up on our shores, and before long the EU had disgraced itself by signing a scandalous deal with Turkey that effectively bribed an increasingly authoritarian Turkish president, enabling European governments to violate international law concerning the rights and protection of refugees.
Freed from ministerial duties, I returned to my book convinced that my initial questions had become infinitely more urgent and that I could now bring a wealth of new insights to the subject. The book was completed during the summer of 2015, after the EU had lost its integrity by crushing Greece and while it was in the process of forfeiting its soul by abrogating its responsibilities to refugees.
When my manuscript was complete, I feared that British readers might find the book too distant from their daily concerns. David Cameron promptly put my mind to rest, however, by scheduling the EU referendum for June 2016. The British media was suddenly abuzz with parallels between Grexit and Brexit. Debates on the merits and future of the EU were raging. My book had unexpectedly found a mass British audience.
Within weeks, I was traversing Britain campaigning against Brexit. Audiences were puzzled: “How can you, given the way the EU treated you and your country, tell us that we should remain?” The confusion was not eased by Michael Gove and other Brexiters, who heaped praise on my book, mischievously presenting it as the best argument for Britain to leave the EU.
Suffice to say that those who think that Brexit will bring about closer links between the UK, the US and the rest of the world misunderstand the origins of the EU, the role of the US in piecing it together and the negative effects that the EU’s fragmentation is already having on the rest of the world.
Varoufakis and De Masi Press Conference at European Parliament – Wednesday 8th March 10.00
Varoufakis and De Masi demand publication of ECB legal opinion for the closure of Greece’s banksGreece’s former finance minister, with German MEP, to hold press conference Wednesday, March 8, to announce filing a vital Freedom of Information request to the ECB. (Click Brussels Press Conference DiEM25 Press Release for pdf version)
WHEN: Wednesday, March 8, 2017 ( 10:00 – 10:30 CET )
WHERE: Anna Politkovskaya Room, PHS 0A50 – European Parliament (Brussels)
RSVP: karim.khattab@europarl.europa.eu
LIVESTREAM: https://goo.gl/pyXkc8
Did the European Central Bank (ECB) act within its mandate when it shut down Greece’s banks in June 2015? Were the ECB’s actions that led to the imposition of capital controls in Greece legal? These are central questions to which DiEM25 co-founder and Greece’s former finance ministerYanis Varoufakis, and Die Linke member of the European parliament Fabio De Masi, want an answer.
The institution led by Mario Draghi was not certain about the legality of its actions at the height of the negotiations between the Greek government and its creditors in the summer of 2015 – to close a member state’s banks – so it commissioned a private law firm to examine whether those actions were legal. When De Masi approached the ECB president to obtain a copy of the private law firm’s legal opinion, Draghi rejected the MEP’s request on the grounds of ‘attorney-client privilege’.
Varoufakis and De Masi have joined forces to take this matter to the next level by filing a Freedom of Information (FOI) request before the ECB to make the legal opinion it commissioned public. The two will hold a livestreamed press conference on Wednesday, March 8 at 10am CET at the European Parliament in Brussels to explain their initiative.
The European people’s right to know
One of the foremost experts on European Law, Professor Andreas Fischer-Lescano, examined whether the ECB was right to refuse to release the private law firm’s opinion. In his view the ECBhas no case for withholding from MEPs and the citizens of Europe the legal opinion the ECB secured (and paid for using European taxpayers’ money) regarding its own conduct.
Broad support
Varoufakis and De Masi have secured support for their transparency initiative from a broad alliance of political figures, activists and intellectuals such as French presidential candidate Benoît Hamon and renowned US economists James Galbraith and Jeffrey Sachs. In addition, over twenty thousand people have already signed the online petition launched by DiEM25 to support the FOI request.
#TheGreekFiles Campaign
DiEM25 has launched a campaign to support Varoufakis’ and De Masi’s initiative to make this crucial legal opinion public.
In a statement, the pan-European democracy movement explained that because the ECB’s actions in 2015 led to the capitulation of the Greek government in favour of new austerity measures and significant losses of national sovereignty, the power of the ECB to shut down a member state’s banks in today’s Eurozone raises important questions about the democratic nature of our common institutions.
“We must all throw light on the lawfulness and propriety of ECB decision-making – beginning with this case – to give European democracy a chance, as well as to make the ECB less vulnerable to power politics,” the statement said.
Varoufakis – De Masi Press Conference
WHEN: Wednesday, March 8, 2017 ( 10:00 – 10:30 CET )
WHERE: Anna Politkovskaya Room, PHS 0A50 – European Parliament (Brussels)
RSVP: karim.khattab@europarl.europa.eu
LIVESTREAM: https://goo.gl/pyXkc8
#TheGreekFiles – Resources
CAMPAIGN SITE: https://diem25.org/thegreekfiles
PETITION: http://www.change.org/thegreekfiles
VAROUFAKIS VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qttt9OHiGG8
DE MASI VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFIvxYWbkfU
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: https://goo.gl/ndJWje
MEDIA INQUIRIES: press@diem25.org
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