Yanis Varoufakis's Blog, page 43
April 1, 2021
‘The Austerity Doctrine in the Time of Coronavirus’ – LET’S TALK IT OVER chat Brian Eno & Yanis Varoufakis hosting special guests Stephanie Kelton & Naomi Klein – 15th April, 19.00CET
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Η Ιστορία όπως ΔΕN συνέβη: Πως η Ελλάδα μπορούσε να νικήσει την πανδημία – βίντεο
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What Europe Must Now Do – DiEM25’s Progressive European Policy Agenda for the 2020s
[Nb. The text below is now subject to consultation by DiEM25 members, National Collectives and Electoral Wings across Europe. Its final version, including proposed amendments, will be put to an all-member vote in the last week of May.]
Decent Public Health, Shared Prosperity & a Green PeacePublic HealthEuropean public health can no longer remain within the ‘competence’ of nation-states. The pandemic demonstrated that, unless the EU provides basic health services (e.g. vaccines) to all its citizens equally and efficiently, the Union is unsafe – some would say pointless.The pandemic demonstrated that the EU must guarantee its citizens equal access to facilities that provide free testing, free vaccines and free primary care. Basic goods (e.g. test kits, vaccines, protective equipment) must be procured centrally and sizeable stocks must be in place everywhere within well-functioning public health systems and networks.Mindful of Europe’s duty to non-European countries in its neighbourhood and beyond, the EU must also donate such basic public health goods to developing countries far and wide. All these basic goods are to be paid for using the ECB’s monetary firepower, not the member-states’ stressed budgets.In the interest of civil liberties and to ensure its citizens the basic privacy rights that Europeans have earned the hard way over centuries of struggles, in times of health emergencies, like the present one, the EU must tread carefully. DiEM25 supports digital technologies which can facilitate an effective track and trace system during a pandemic while safeguarding anonymity. However, DiEM25 is utterly opposed to the exploitation of such emergencies in the interests of corporations and states seeking make citizens transparent, while they remain opaque. In this context, DiEM25 opposes all vaccination certificates or passports which open up a Pandora’s Box of civil liberty violations by insurance companies, employers and state agencies.Shared ProsperityDuring the Covid-19 pandemic, compared to the US, China and the UK, the Eurozone suffered the largest drop in investment, the greatest capital flight, and the largest increase in its output gap (i.e. difference between potential and actual production). Moreover, Europe’s internal imbalances (which were the cause of the massive Euro Crisis) have grown exponentially. Despite this, Europe has administered the smallest stimulus in the developed world and has done the least to bolster investment – relying almost entirely on a so-called Recovery Fund that is macroeconomically insignificant and politically poisonous. As a result, the 2020s are shaping as a second Lost European Decade.To prevent this, and to give shared European prosperity a chance, DiEM25 has proposed – and is doing so again – four policies:ECB-Bonds to lessen the strain on member-state budgets: All primary budget deficits since March 2020 to be financed by means of 30-year bonds issued by the ECB (ECB-bonds), ensuring that the new pandemic-induced national debt does not weigh down already overburdened national budgets. The 30-year-long maturity of the ECB-bonds will function as an added incentive for a proper democratic political union to emerge within three decades. Additionally, we envisage perpetual ECB-issued bonds, to be exchanged with member-state bonds, for the purposes of restructuring even deeper the debt burden caused by the outbreak of the Euro Crisis in 2010.Solidarity Cash Payments: The ECB injects a €2000 European Solidarity Cash Payment to the primary bank account of every European resident. This can be repeated whenever necessary, replacing all ECB corporate bond-purchases.European Green Recovery & Investment Program: The EU to direct the European Investment Bank (EIB), and its subsidiary the European Investment Fund (EIF), to issue annually EIB-EIF bonds approximately equal to 5% of the EU’s GDP, to be backed in the bond markets by the ECB. The monies will fund a new European Green Works Agency whose remit is to build up the EU’s necessary Green Energy Union and to fund the EU’s Green TransitionRescinding all post-2010 austerity conditionalities: The EU countries worst hit by the pandemic also happen to be the ones worst hit by the savage austerity and privatisation programs that the troika imposed upon them directly or indirectly since 2010. All these ‘conditionalities’ now act as a drag upon the whole of the EU and must be rescinded immediately.Green Peace in Europe’s neighbourhoodIn 2020 the EU officially endorsed a so-called ‘Green Deal’. Regrettably, it was endorsed “more in the breach than in the observance”: No real funding was ever put aside for this ‘Green Deal’ and, worse still, the EU continues to pursue the extraction and distribution of fossil fuels in a manner that increases geopolitical tensions.In particular, plans to extract oil and gas in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean are causing geopolitical tensions that only benefit arms dealers and the financial vultures who profit from ‘securitising’ fossil fuels and gas pipelines and that will, most probably, not even see the light of day. They also fuel the pre-existing migration crisis by turning Turkey against the EU and vice versa. Meanwhile, in Europe’s North East, Nordstream2 is causing new tensions and new dependencies on regimes and industries that have nothing good to offer the majority of Europeans. For Peace’s sake, and for the sake of European security and sovereignty, this must end.DiEM25 proposes an EU initiative to bring Peace and Shared Green Prosperity to all the peoples of the Mediterranean. We are campaigning for the EU to call a Peace and Green Energy Mediterranean Summit. The idea is for all Mediterranean countries to sit around the same table with a view to achieving the following:Encourage all participants to declare the Mediterranean a fossil fuel free zone (i.e. no new drilling and no new gas pipelines) and to work towards building a joint Green Energy UnionMark, on the same map, each country’s claim regarding its sea borders (e.g. continental shelf, economic zone)Agree collectively to take any remaining competing claims to the International Court at the Hague on condition that the Court’s decision will be accepted as final by all participantsProvided the above have been achieved, the EU will fund, via the European Investment Bank and other investment vehicles (e.g. see 2.2.3 above), the lion’s share of a Green Energy Union incorporating the EU, the Middle East and Northern Africa.SummaryThe EU will either unify to confront the prospect of another lost decade, or it will perish. DiEM25’s Progressive European Policy Agenda for the 2020s offers the only path toward unification. The three sets of policies we propose are immediately implementable and consistent with the letter of the EU Treaties. They promise:To share the burden of safeguarding public health across EuropeTo extend this duty to developing countries in recognition of the pandemic’s main lesson, namely that viruses respect no bordersTo share the pandemic-induced public debt burden between EU member-states, while rescinding the institutionalised austerity left over from the Euro CrisisTo deliver the public green investments necessary for a sustainable EuropeTo pay for Europe’s recovery and health using existing monetary financing tools which, currently, fund the oligarchy instead of public health, public goods and programs in the public interestOnly DiEM25’s Progressive European Policy Agenda for the 2020s offers Europe a chance to become a genuine, democratic Union. The only other option is disintegration.Appendix: DiEM25’s post-Pandemic Progressive Policy Agenda in bullets
PUBLIC HEALTHThe provision of basic health goods becomes an EU dutyA new EU Network of Public Primary Health Care Centres easily accessible to every EU citizen offering:free testing on demandfree vaccinations on demandgeneral practice care free at the point of deliveryCentralised procurement for:test kitsvaccines, including the purchase of patents so as to facilitate local productionbasic medicinesprotective equipmentEU commits to providing to developing countries, free of charge, as many test kits, vaccines, basic medicines and protective equipment quantities as it has procured for EuropeansDirect funding of 1.2,1.3&1.4 above utilising ECB instruments (e.g. ECB bonds, EU perpetuals to be purchased by the ECB)Vaccination passports and/or certificates are banned, to protect basic privacy rights. Instead, the EU funds the development of applications (Apps) that allow for an efficient track-and-trace system, securing anonymity, to be incorporated in the EU network of public primary health care units mentioned in 1.2 above.SHARED PROSPERITYECB-Bonds to lessen the strain on member-state budgets: All primary budget deficits since March 2020 to be financed by means of 30-year bonds issued by the ECB (ECB-bonds), ensuring that the new pandemic-induced national debt does not weigh down already overburdened national budgets. The 30-year-long maturity of the ECB-bonds will function as an added incentive for a proper democratic political union to emerge within three decadesSolidarity Cash Payments: The ECB injects a €2000 European Solidarity Cash Payment to the primary bank account of every European resident. This can be repeated whenever necessary, replacing all ECB corporate bond-purchasesEuropean Green Recovery & Investment Program: The EU to direct the European Investment Bank (EIB), and its subsidiary the European Investment Fund (EIF), to issue annually EIB-EIF bonds approximately equal to 5% of the EU’s GDP, to be backed in the bond markets by the ECB. The monies will fund a new European Green Works Agency whose remit is to build up the EU’s necessary Green Energy Union and to fund the EU’s Green TransitionRescinding all post-2010 austerity conditionalities: The EU countries worst hit by the pandemic also happen to be the ones worst hit by the savage austerity and privatisation programs that the troika imposed upon them directly or indirectly since 2010. All these ‘conditionalities’ now act as a drag upon the whole of the EU and must be rescinded immediately.GREEN PEACEThe EU to call a Peace and Green Energy Mediterranean Summit involving all Mediterranean countries for the purposes ofdeclaring the Mediterranean a fossil fuel free zoneworking towards joint EU-Mediterranean Green Energy Union incorporating the EU, the Middle East and Northern Africadelineating each country’s claim regarding its sea borders (continental shelf, economic zone)agreeing to take any remaining competing claims to the International Court at the Hague for binding arbitrationThe EU will fund, via the European Investment Bank and other investment vehicles the lion’s share of the EU-Mediterranean Green Energy Union a Green Energy Union.The post What Europe Must Now Do – DiEM25’s Progressive European Policy Agenda for the 2020s appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.
March 31, 2021
Πανικόβλητος μπροστά στο τσουνάμι λουκέτων και ανεργίας, ο κ. Μητσοτάκης θριαμβολογεί για τα βουνά νέου χρέους που κομίζει από το Ταμείο Ανάκαμψης
(*) Σάμιουελ Τέιλορ Κόλεριτζ, 1834, Η μπαλάντα του γέρου ναυτικού
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March 30, 2021
Πόσο ακόμα θα αποξενώνουν τους πολίτες από την πολιτική με κοκορομαχίες και προανακριτικές που προκαλούν την αηδία των πολιτών;
Θέλεις να μαθαίνεις για τις δράσεις του ΜεΡΑ25; Γράψου εδώ.
The post Πόσο ακόμα θα αποξενώνουν τους πολίτες από την πολιτική με κοκορομαχίες και προανακριτικές που προκαλούν την αηδία των πολιτών; appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.
March 25, 2021
ΣΚΛΗΡΟ ΜΑΡΚΑΡΙΣΜΑ, Επεισόδιο 2ο: Ο Μανώλης Κοττάκης ανακρίνει τον Γιάνη Βαρουφάκη
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March 24, 2021
Πόσο ακόμα; Πόσο ακόμα θα κυβερνά αυτόν τον τόπο ένας Λάτσης, μια El Dorado, ένας ξένος ΟΠΑΠ, μια Fraport-CISCO & Σια; – Ομιλία στη Βουλή 23/3/2021
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March 18, 2021
Η Πράσινη Βιομηχανική Επανάσταση του ΜέΡΑ25 κόντρα στις εξορυκτικές, αποεπενδυτικές, αποικιοκρατικές συμβάσεις τύπου El Dorado των ΝΔ-ΣΥΡΙΖΑ – Βουλή 17 Μαρτίου 2021
The post Η Πράσινη Βιομηχανική Επανάσταση του ΜέΡΑ25 κόντρα στις εξορυκτικές, αποεπενδυτικές, αποικιοκρατικές συμβάσεις τύπου El Dorado των ΝΔ-ΣΥΡΙΖΑ – Βουλή 17 Μαρτίου 2021 appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.
March 16, 2021
Πρόσωπο με Πρόσωπο Νο.2: Απαντώντας σε 8 νέες βιντεο-ερωτήσεις σας
Φρόντισε να είναι καθαρός ο ήχος σου. Προσπαθούμε να αποφύγουμε πολυσύχναστα μέρη, όπου οι γύρω θόρυβοι μπορεί να αποσπούν την προσοχή από την ερώτησή σου.Στην αρχή του βίντεο, δήλωσε το όνομα και την ιδιότητά σου.Η διάρκεια του βίντεο δεν πρέπει να υπερβαίνει το ένα λεπτό. Ερωτήσεις με διάρκεια πάνω από ένα λεπτό, δεν μπορούν δυστυχώς να γίνουν δεκτές.Μπορείς να παρακολουθήσεις ένα παράδειγμα ερώτησης εδώ.Αμέσως μετά, μπορείς να στείλεις το βίντεό σου, με τις παρακάτω free πλατφόρμεςwetransfer.comdatatransfer.grfromsmash.comστο email: face2face@mera25.gr.Ο τρόπος αποστολής του βίντεο είναι απλός: συμπληρώνεις το email σου και το email αποστολής και πατάς send, transfer ή share.
Αυτό ήταν! Εμείς παραλαμβάνουμε την ερώτησή σου και σου απαντάμε ότι την λάβαμε.The post Πρόσωπο με Πρόσωπο Νο.2: Απαντώντας σε 8 νέες βιντεο-ερωτήσεις σας appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.
March 15, 2021
Draghi’s outrageous deployment of McKinsey, Europe’s predicament, DiEM25’s proposals – La Stampa
In Italy your tweet about McKinsey has triggered a huge debate. Don’t you think it was inappropriate to compare the management-consulting firm to the mafia? PM Draghi’s decision to engage McKinsey was scandalous and an insult to the good people of Italy. In effect, it constitutes a statement that, to distribute EU funds, Italian democracy needs advice from a consultancy firm with a track record bordering on the criminal. Thus the humourful, and perfectly apt, punchline suggesting that if Mario wanted to do a little worse he would need to engage the Mafia in re-organising the Ministry of Justice.The Italian Ministry of Economic Affairs has explained that McKinsey’s contract is worth approximately 20.000€ and the consulting company will not “organise Italy’s distribution of Recovery Fund money”, as you wrote. “McKinsey – explained the Ministry in a note – will offer only a technical-organizational support”. Do you see that as a step forward?I see it as a guilty attempt to wriggle out of a disgraceful cockup. What is the difference between “helping organise” from offering “technical-organisational support” of Italy’s distribution of Recovery Fund money? None! As for the fee, even if they did it pro bono, their engagement is an affront to the Italian people’s well-developed sense of decency.McKinsey & Company is one of the most prestigious consulting management firms in the world and has advised corporations and governments around the world. Also France hired McKinsey to help in the pandemic. So, why do you think it is wrong to hire McKinsey?They are certainly “powerful”. But prestigious? Not in the slightest. Only very recently they were fined $600 million for helping push drugs that contributed to the death of 450 thousand Americans. Tom Peters, an ex-McKinsey employee, explained in the Financial Times how the firm cynically calculated the expected fines to pharmaceutical companies from intentionally causing thousands of deaths and then advised them to go ahead! So, yes, it was more than wrong for PM Draghi to hire McKinsey. It was immoral.In your last interview with La Stampa, almost one year ago, you affirmed that the EU Recovery Fund “will not be enough for Italy without Eurobonds” . Now we know that Rome will receive 209 billion euros. Did you change your mind about this? No, quite the opposite. They time has come to inform the Italian public of how hopelessly inadequate the Recovery Fund is. To begin with, $120 of these billions are loans, which is the last thing Italy needs as loans cannot ameliorate the insolvency problem at hand. Only around $80 billion will come in the form of grants, to be distributed over six years, at the rate of $13 billion every year. Compared to the increase in Italy’s debt, both private and public, this is a drop in the ocean or, put more scientifically, it is macroeconomically insignificant. In conclusion, sadly, what I said a year ago is now fully confirmed.Politically, in Italy, “The Times They Are a-Changin”. We’ve got a new premier, Mario Draghi, and the party of Matteo Salvini have accepted to participate in the new government of national unity. Only Giorgia Meloni is in the opposition. What do you think about this unpredictable scenario? A clear defeat for Italian democracy. By dominating the opposition, Giorgia Meloni and her neofascist party will be the only beneficiaries of the discontent that will, inevitably, grow as the overblown optimism following Mr Draghi’s appointment gives way to the harsh reality.Why don’t you trust Mario Draghi? In the last decade it was one of the most important people for the survival of the euro and he has been accused of helping Southern European countries ECB. Have his monetary policies damaged Athens? My opinion of Mario Draghi is irrelevant. Yes, in 2015 Mr Draghi strangled Greece’s democracy, and in the process damaged European democracy, by shutting down Greece’s banks in order to blackmail the Greek people into accepting yet another unpayable credit card from the troika under neo-colonial conditions. Mario was, in my opinion, given an ultimatum by Berlin: Crush the Greeks if you want to be allowed to buy Italian, French and Spanish bonds.Still, if Mario had been chosen by a majority of Italians, in an election where he had presented his program to the public, as a democrat I would congratulate him. In other words, what is relevant is that, once again, Italian democracy has been replaced by a system where the Prime Minister is selected behind closed doors by political leaders striking deals that have nothing to do with the programs they put to the people.So what should Italy and, I would say, Europe do to the deal with the economic depression caused by COVID-19?DiEM25’s answer, presented a year ago, remains valid: First, get the ECB to issue a proper, 30year, Eurobond to the tune of at least €1 trillion and use that money, on the basis of an automated formula, to ensure that the new debt caused by the pandemic is europeanised – as opposed to burdening Italy, Spain, France, Greece or Germany. Second, the ECB should regularly credit the bank accounts of every European family directly – as both Presidents Trump and Biden have done in the US. Third, Europe should invest, centrally, in a Green Energy Union/Grid to the tune of 5% of Europe’s GDP, to be funded by European Investment Bank bonds that the ECB supports in the bond markets.What about Europe? Will it be stronger or weaker after the pandemic?Much, much weaker. Investment fell during 2020 by 50% and the output gap grew to 8%. The Recovery Fund will only make up for, at best, one-eighth of this over the next few years. It is too little and it will come too late to prevent another wasted decade for the Eurozone.How are things going in Aegina and in Greece? I’ve read that until the 16th of March you will be still in lockdown. How is the economy going under the conservative government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis?Aegina remains a gem but, alas, the Mitsotakis government, lacking anything resembling a plan, is proceeding with wishful thinking as his only compass. As for the economy, judge for yourselves: In 2010 Greece went bankrupt because our public debt rose to €300 billion, our GDP fell to €220 and the budget deficit exceeded 10% of GDP. Today, public debt exceeds €355 billion, GDP languishes at €166 billion and the budget deficit exceeds 10%.To conclude on a more political note, has DiEM25 any relationship with the Italian Democratic Party? Do you know, or have you ever met, Enrico Letta?DiEM25 neither has nor wishes to have a relationship with the Democratic Party, which we consider to be a major contributor to Italy’s woes and, also, a stagnant party lacking any capacity for innovative, progressive thinking. As for Enrico, yes, I know him well and I like him very much, personally. Last time we met was in Paris where he invited me to address his students at Sciences Po. Is it not wonderful that politicians, economists, artists etc. can disagree strongly and still benefit from dialogue while enjoying each other’s company?
So predictable, so sad: Mario Draghi hired McKinsey to 'organise' Italy's distribution of Recovery Fund monies. What next? Get the Mafia to re-organise the Ministry of Justice?
— Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) March 8, 2021
The post Draghi’s outrageous deployment of McKinsey, Europe’s predicament, DiEM25’s proposals – La Stampa appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.
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