Yanis Varoufakis
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ioannis Georgiou "Yanis" Varoufakis (; born 24 March 1961) is a Greek economist and politician. Since 2018, he has been Secretary-General of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), a left-wing pan-European political party he co-founded in 2016. Previously, he was a member of
Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...
and was Greece's Minister of Finance between January 2015 and July 2015, negotiating on behalf of the Greek government during the 2009–2018 Greek government-debt crisis. Varoufakis was first elected as a Member of the
Hellenic Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme demo ...
with
Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...
, representing the Athens B constituency from January to September 2015. He was appointed Minister of Finance by Prime Minister
Alexis Tsipras Alexis Tsipras (, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019. A left-wing figure, Tsipras was leader of the List of political parties in Greece, Greek political party Syriza from 200 ...
two days after the election, serving in this role between January 2015 and July 2015. Varoufakis then represented Thessaloniki A from July 2019 to May 2023 as a MeRA25 Member of Parliament.


Early life and education

Varoufakis was born in Palaio Faliro, Athens, on 24 March 1961, to Georgios and Eleni Varoufakis (née Tsaggaraki). Varoufakis's father, Georgios Varoufakis, was an Egyptiote Greek who emigrated from
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
to Greece in 1946 in order to study chemistry at the
University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...
. In the midst of the second
Greek Civil War The Greek Civil War () took place from 1946 to 1949. The conflict, which erupted shortly after the end of World War II, consisted of a Communism, Communist-led uprising against the established government of the Kingdom of Greece. The rebels decl ...
, he was physically harassed by the police and asked to sign a denunciation of
communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
. In response, he said: "Look, I am not a Buddhist, but I would never sign a denunciation of Buddhism". Due to his refusal to denounce communism, he was imprisoned for four years on the island of Makronisos, which was used as a political re-education camp. After being released in 1950, Georgios Varoufakis completed his university studies in metallurgy and chemical engineering and found employment as the personal assistant to the director of Halyvourgiki; Greece's biggest steel producer. In 2003, he was appointed
chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...
of the board of directors of Halyvourgiki; he held the position until the company's closure in January 2020. He died in September 2021. Varoufakis's mother Eleni was studying chemistry at the University of Athens in the late 1940s. She shifted away from her conservative background in 1950, after meeting fellow chemistry student Georgios Varoufakis, who was, at the time, allied to United Democratic Left (EDA). Georgios and Eleni had two children, Yanis and Trisevgeni. In the mid-1970s, Eleni Varoufaki was an activist for the Women's Union of Greece, which promoted women's equality and was initiated by members of
PASOK The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Greece, political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was Two-party system, one of the two major ...
. By the early-1980s, the couple had converged politically to centre-left views and the socialist PASOK. Eleni served as a municipal councillor of Palaio Faliro for several years prior to her death in 2008. Varoufakis was six years old when the military coup d'état of April 1967 took place. Varoufakis later said that the military junta showed him a "sense of what it means to be both unfree and, at once, convinced that the possibilities for progress and improvement are endless". The junta collapsed when Varoufakis was in junior high school. While attending the private Moraitis School, Varoufakis decided to spell his first name with one nu, rather than the standard two, for "
aesthetic Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,'' , acces ...
" reasons. When his teacher gave him a low mark for that, he became angry and has continued spelling his first name with one nu ever since. Varoufakis completed his secondary education during 1976, when his parents deemed it too dangerous for him to continue his education in Greece. Therefore, he moved to the United Kingdom in 1978 where he entered the
University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...
. His "initial urge was to study physics" but he decided that "the lingua franca of political discourse was economics". He enrolled in the economics course at Essex, but it has also been suggested that he decided to enroll in economics after meeting
Andreas Papandreou Andreas Georgiou Papandreou (, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek academic and economist who founded the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and served three terms as Prime minister of Greece, prime minister of Third Hellenic Repu ...
. After only a few weeks of lectures, Varoufakis switched his major field of study to mathematics. While at the University of Essex, he joined various political organisations including ComSoc (the University Communist Society) and the
Troops Out Movement The Troops Out Movement (TOM) was an Irish republican organisation formed in the United Kingdom in 1973, following actions by the British Army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, including the Bloody Sunday and Ballymurphy massacres by the ...
, which campaigned for a British withdrawal from
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. Varoufakis was elected secretary of the Black Students Alliance, a choice that caused some controversy, given that he is not black, to which he responded "that black was a political term and, as a Greek, on the grounds of ethnicity he had as much reason to be there as anyone else." Varoufakis also took part in student debates, where one of his rivals was John Bercow, who later became the UK Speaker of the House of Commons. Varoufakis moved to the
University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...
in October 1981, obtaining an MSc in
mathematical statistics Mathematical statistics is the application of probability theory and other mathematical concepts to statistics, as opposed to techniques for collecting statistical data. Specific mathematical techniques that are commonly used in statistics inc ...
in October 1982. He completed his PhD in economics in 1987 writing a thesis, "On Optimization and Strikes", at the University of Essex, where his PhD supervisor was Monojit Chatterji.


Academic career

Between 1982 and 1988, Varoufakis taught economics and econometrics at the
University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...
and the
University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...
, and also taught at the
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
. He did not wish to return to Greece for fear of
conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...
, so he accepted an offer to lecture at the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
, where he remained until 2000. From 1989 to 2000, he taught as senior lecturer in economics at the Department of Economics of the University of Sydney, with short stints at the
University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...
and the University of Louvain (UCLouvain). Varoufakis, during his time in Sydney, had his own slot on a local television show during which he critiqued John Howard's conservative government. In 1991, he obtained Australian
citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...
. In 2000, a combination of "nostalgia and abhorrence of the conservative turn of the land Down Under", led Varoufakis to return to Greece where he was appointed as an associate professor of economic theory at the
University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...
. In 2002, Varoufakis established ''The University of Athens Doctoral Program in Economics'' (UADPhilEcon), which he directed until 2008. In 2005, he was promoted to full professor of economic theory. From January 2004 to December 2006, Varoufakis served as economic advisor to George Papandreou, of whose government he was to become an ardent critic a few years later. Beginning in March 2012, Varoufakis was hired as the economist-in-residence at the video game company
Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...
. He researched the
virtual economy A virtual economy (or sometimes synthetic economy) is an emergence, emergent economy existing in a virtual world, usually exchanging virtual goods in the context of an online game, particularly in massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). Peop ...
of Valve's digital distribution service
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
, focusing on exchange rates and trade deficits. In June, he began a blog about his research at Valve. In February 2013, his role at Valve was to develop a game for predicting trends in gaming. From January 2013, Varoufakis taught at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...
as a visiting professor. In November 2013, he was appointed guest professor at
Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...
, Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, to work on game and decision theory at the department's centre eGovLab. In 2013, he worked as the Athens desk editor of the online magazine ''WDW Review'', to which he contributed until January 2015.


Minister of Finance and the Syriza government (January–August 2015)

Varoufakis was elected to the Greek parliament, representing
Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...
, and took office in the new government of
Alexis Tsipras Alexis Tsipras (, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019. A left-wing figure, Tsipras was leader of the List of political parties in Greece, Greek political party Syriza from 200 ...
two days later, on 27 January 2015. He was appointed Finance Minister by Tsipras shortly after the election victory. The party promised to renegotiate Greece's debt and significantly curtail the austerity measures that had led to the longest recession in post-war global history. The new government had to negotiate an extension on its loan agreement, due to expire on 28 February 2015. On 4 February 2015, the
European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...
(ECB) lifted the waiver affecting marketable debt instruments issued or fully guaranteed by Greece that until then allowed Greek banks to benefit from cheap liquidity. As a result of this decision, Greek banks, already strained by the run on deposits, had to depend on Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA), which is, however, significantly more expensive than regular ECB financing. When the ECB raised the provision of ELA very modestly by 3.3 billion euros on 18 February 2015 (when outflows of deposits from Greek banks were reaching record heights), everybody knew that this was an ultimatum: either Greece should strike an agreement within days or it would have to face very serious bank problems. As in the cases of the Ireland and Cyprus crises, the ELA was again used as pressure to bring about a quick agreement. Had the EU loan agreement expired without renewal, the ECB would have pulled its liquidity provisions from Greece's commercial banks, ensuring that they closed their doors to the public. Varoufakis led this negotiation at the Eurogroup and with the
International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...
(IMF). On 20 February, at the Eurogroup, an agreement to extend the Greek loan "facility" for four months, until 30 June 2015, was struck and Varoufakis hailed it as crucial – because it represented a fresh start by specifying that the terms of the loan would be renegotiated and its conditions would be re-drawn on the basis of a new list of reforms to be provided by the Greek government. That list was submitted by Varoufakis on 23 February and was approved by the Eurogroup on 24 February. On those grounds, Varoufakis signed the official document by which the loan agreement's expiry date was to be extended from 28 February to 30 June 2015 – a four-month period during which a new agreement was to be negotiated. Varoufakis's view on Greece's public debt, and the 2010 crisis which began as a result of the Greek government's inability to fund it, was that EU bailouts were attempts to take on the largest loan in history on condition of austerity measures that would shrink the incomes from which old, un-serviceable loans and new bailout debts would have to be repaid. Varoufakis argued that the "bailout" loans of 2010 and 2012, before restructuring the debt properly and putting in place a developmental program (including reforming the oligarchy, creating a development bank and dealing with the banks' non-performing loans) would lead to deeper bankruptcy, a great depression and a harder default in the future. His explanation of why the troika of Greece's lenders (the IMF, the ECB, and the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
) insisted on these bailout loans was that they represented a transfer of losses from the private banks to Greece's and Europe's taxpayers. In his view, the 20 February 2015 Eurogroup agreement that he negotiated, "was an excellent opportunity to move forward." However, this view was not shared by the Eurozone countries or the wider financial community. The ECB had prevented the Greek Government from raising money cheaply and had also forced Greek banks to rely on expensive ELA funding. In other words, the Eurozone had signalled that "strict conditionality" would apply and that Greece would face a banking collapse if it did not comply. Thus, the troika of lenders did not agree to let the new Greek government change the previous terms of the agreement or to a debt restructuring. Varoufakis claims that, soon after the extension was granted at the end of February, the troika reneged on its alleged promise to consider a new fiscal and reform program for Greece, demanding that the Greek government implement the old one (which the Syriza government was elected to rewrite). In March 2015, the ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' pointed to several tensions between Greece and the other Eurozone countries, saying that some countries feel they have taken the "tough medicine" and the €195 billion owed is not insignificant. Further, they stated other governments have philosophical differences with Varoufakis and his
Anglosphere The Anglosphere, also known as the Anglo-American world, is a Western-led sphere of influence among the Anglophone countries. The core group of this sphere of influence comprises five developed countries that maintain close social, cultura ...
and
Keynesian Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...
leanings. Peter Ludlow said Varoufakis and his colleagues "turned instinctively ... to the U.K. and the U.S. even before they called on the European Left." In a discussion with Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz on the invitation of U.S. economic think tank Institute for New Economic Thinking, Varoufakis stated on 9 April 2015 that "the Greek state does not have the capacity to develop public assets." Therefore, he announced that his government was "restarting the privatization process." However, unlike the former governments they would insist on establishing
public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sectors, private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Revie ...
s with the state retaining a minority stake to generate state revenues. They would also require a minimum investment on behalf of the bidder, and "decent working conditions" for workers. Varoufakis also said that although the government needed to avoid a primary budget deficit, the bailout program's target of a surplus of 4.5 percent of GDP was outlandish and should be reduced to no more than 1.5 percent. After many weeks of negotiations during which the Greek government, often against Varoufakis's advice, made many concessions to the troika of Greece's lenders, no agreement was in sight. One reason was that the members of the troika did not have a unified position. For example, the IMF insisted that the Greek government's demand for a public debt restructure should be granted so that their own money could be returned to them while the other creditors ate the loss, while powerful finance ministers in the Eurogroup (Germany's, for instance) refused this because they did not want to eat the loss. Another alleged reason was that, with elections approaching in Spain, Ireland, and Portugal, various politicians within the EU did not want to see Greece's radical new government emerge as successful. On 25 June 2015, Varoufakis was presented with an ultimatum in the Eurogroup. It included a fiscal proposal, a reform agenda, and a funding formula that Varoufakis, his government, and several other ministers of finance sitting in the Eurogroup considered to be non-viable. The next day, the Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, called for a referendum on the Eurogroup's proposal on 5 July. On 27 July, in Brussels, Varoufakis asked for a one-month extension. He said, according to his own tape recording of the meeting: "The question is very simple, there is a proposal by the institutions (i.e., the Troika). The institutions worked very hard to come up with it. We could not bring ourselves to sign it for reasons I have explained, it is up to the Greek people to decide. The suggestion that we're coming to you with is that a one-month extension is offered of the existing arrangement so as to allow a smooth transition from today to the 6th of July so as to allow the Greek people, in calmness to deliberate, to consider the proposal which is in front of them, and to make a considered judgment on that basis." The Irish Finance Minister responded by pointing out that a run of the Greek banks and ATMs had begun. The German representative confirmed that there would be no extension. Greece would face a banking crisis. It was left to Luis de Guindos to turn down Varoufakis's plea for an extension by pointing out that calling a referendum was scarcely a confidence-building measure precisely because the gap between the Greek and the Troika's position was bridgeable. This showed there was no "contagion risk". Greece was welcome to destroy itself; nobody else would be affected.
Mario Draghi Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, banker, statesman, and civil servant, who served as the prime minister of Italy from 13 February 2021 to 22 October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime mi ...
and Christine Lagarde, on behalf of the ECB and the IMF, respectively, confirmed that Greece was on its own, although any other affected party could get help. In other words, Greece, simply by calling the referendum, had lost Institutional support; it was on its own. On 5 July 2015, the bailout referendum took place. Varoufakis had campaigned vigorously in favour of the 'No' vote, against the united support for the 'Yes' of Greece's media. To make his position clear, he declared on television that he would resign as finance minister if Greeks voted 'Yes'. The outcome of the vote was a resounding 61.5 percent vote in favour of 'No'. Varoufakis went on television, soon after the result was announced, and declared that the government was determined to honour this new mandate for a different agreement with its creditors. However, a few hours later, Varoufakis resigned. In his resignation statement the following morning he claimed that "other European participants" had expressed a wish for his absence. Later he explained that he decided to resign during a meeting with the prime minister, on the night of the referendum, during which he discovered that the prime minister, instead of being energised by the "No" vote, declared to Varoufakis his decision to acquiesce to the troika's terms. Unwilling to sign such a "surrender" document, Varoufakis chose to resign. His explanation, published later by Harry Lambert, ''
New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...
'', 13 July 2015, was this: "I'm not going to betray my own view, that I honed back in 2010, that this country must stop extending and pretending, we must stop taking on new loans pretending that we've solved the problem, when we haven't; when we have made our debt even less sustainable on condition of further austerity that even further shrinks the economy; and shifts the burden further onto the have nots, creating a humanitarian crisis. It's something I'm not going to accept, I'm not going to be party to." In a 16 July teleconference with private investors that was later made public, Varoufakis described a five-month clandestine project he ran as finance minister involving hacking into Greece's independent tax service's computers. The project's goal was to develop a parallel payment system that could be implemented as a contingency plan if the Greek system failed, and was dubbed "Plan B". In it, individuals' private identification numbers were accessed and copied to a computer controlled by a "childhood friend" of Varoufakis. On 14 August, the government (without Varoufakis) pushed successfully through parliament the third Greek bailout agreement. The bailout bill received 222 votes to 64 (as the opposition voted in favour). Up to 40 Syriza members, including Varoufakis, voted against the bailout. Just prior to that vote, Varoufakis rose in parliament to offer the
Prime Minister of Greece The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic (), usually referred to as the prime minister of Greece (), is the head of government of the Greece, Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Cabinet of Greece, Greek Cabinet. The officeholder's of ...
his resignation from his parliamentary seat, saying that this was the only way he knew how to combine his strong opposition to the new bailout with loyalty to the party and the prime minister. On 20 August, the prime minister himself resigned and called a
snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...
due to the loss of support from rebelling
Syriza The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...
MPs. Varoufakis had already declared that he was not interested in standing again for Syriza. At the same time, Syriza announced that any MP who voted against the bailout package would not be standing for the party. Varoufakis did not go on to represent Popular Unity, unlike many of his ex-Syriza colleagues, as he considered the party too isolationist. Varoufakis chose not to stand in the election, saying he would focus on creating a European network that would "restore democracy" in Europe. A month later, the national election was held, and despite a low voter turnout, Tsipras and his Syriza party won just over 35 percent of the vote. Combining with the Independent Greeks Party, a majority was achieved and Tsipras was returned to power.


Commentary on appointment

The Adam Smith Institute, a leading
free-market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
in the United Kingdom, "enthusiastically" supported Varoufakis's debt-swap plan and asked the then British
Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
George Osborne to support it. Varoufakis had proposed debt swap measures, including bonds pegged to economic growth, which would replace the existing bonds of the European bailout programme.
Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...
said that Varoufakis was a "brilliant economist", but he had difficult interactions with other politicians and the media. James K. Galbraith, referring to Varoufakis's expertise in
game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions. It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science. Initially, game theory addressed ...
, has said that he knows as much about this subject "as anyone on the planet", and that " ewill be thinking more than a few steps ahead" in any interactions with the troika. Two weeks later, Varoufakis wrote an
op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...
in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' saying that using game theory would be "pure folly" and that he wanted to "shun any temptation to treat this pivotal moment as an experiment in strategizing and, instead, to present honestly the facts concerning Greece's social economy".


Later political career (2015–present)

In September 2015, Varoufakis appeared on the British topical debate show, '' Question Time'', and was praised for his performance by Mark Lawson in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', who wrote: "several of the sentences he spoke in a second language were more impressive than most that his fellow panellists managed in their native tongue." He appeared on the show again in October 2016 and March 2019. He has described himself as a " libertarian Marxist". Varoufakis attended an event in London hosted by ''The Guardian'' on 23 October 2015, where he spoke about the UK's upcoming European Union membership referendum. He said that the UK should remain in the EU, but also campaign to democratise it: "My message is simple yet rich: those of us who disdain the democratic deficit in Brussels, those of us who detest the authoritarianism of a technocracy which is incompetent and contemptuous of democracy, those of us who are most critical of Europe have a moral duty to stay in Europe, fight for it, and democratise it." He would return to the UK, in May 2016, in the final stages of the campaigning to again urge a remain vote. On 9 February 2016, Varoufakis launched the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25) at the
Volksbühne The Volksbühne ("People's Theatre") is a theater in Berlin. Located in Berlin's city center Mitte on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Rosa Luxemburg Square) in what was the GDR's capital. It has been called Berlin's most iconic theatre. About The V ...
in Berlin. In March 2016, Varoufakis publicly supported the idea of a
basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a minimum income in the form of an unconditional transfer payment, i.e., without a means test or need to perform Work (hu ...
. On 2 April 2016, in reaction to tension between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the IMF, Varoufakis said there was underway "an attrition war between a reasonably numerate villain (the IMF) and a chronic procrastinator (Berlin)" as to Greek debt relief. In March 2018, Varoufakis announced the launch of his own political party, MeRA25, with a stated aim of freeing Greece from "debt bondage". He stated that he hoped the party would be based on an alliance of "people of the left and liberalism, greens and feminists". The party, whose name stands for "European Realistic Disobedience Front", is affiliated to DiEM25. On 20 August 2018, in an on-stage book festival interview in Edinburgh, Varoufakis pressed
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...
, head of the British Labour Party, to "be a bit more ambitious" and become involved in the international progressive movement, saying "We need a progressive international". On 13 September, Varoufakis penned an op-ed piece in ''The Guardian'' about the need for an international progressive movement, alongside a similar piece by fellow progressive U.S. Senator
Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...
. On 26 October in Rome, Varoufakis announced the
Progressive International Progressive International (PI) is an international political organisation that unites and mobilises Progressivism, progressive Left-wing politics, left-wing activists and groups. The organisation works with over 70 member groups. This comprises ...
, which was described as a "common blueprint for an International
New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...
, a progressive New Bretton Woods". The organization officially launched on 30 November in Sanders' home town of Burlington, Vermont. On 25 November 2018, Varoufakis was selected to head the list of "Demokratie in Europa" (an initiative of Varoufakis' DiEM25 with the support of the German mini-party Democracy in Motion), for the 2019 European elections but was not elected, as the list failed to elect a single MEP. On 7 July 2019, his party MeRA25 passed the threshold necessary to enter the Greek parliament and Varoufakis was re-elected an MP. In November 2019, along with other public figures, Varoufakis signed a letter supporting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn describing Corbyn as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsed him in the 2019 UK general election. In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, he signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few." Varoufakis wrote an article for Project Syndicate in late 2021, commenting on and critiquing Facebook's newly introduced Meta project. In an October 2022 interview, Varoufakis stated that the U.S. wants to keep the
Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...
going, as it serves American interests. For the war to end, he proposed that the opposing sides should come to an agreement, that will include the withdrawal of the Russian troops to their pre-February 24 bases, a commitment from the U.S. that Ukraine will not enter NATO, mutual guarantees of Ukraine's independence and neutrality, a Good Friday-like agreement for the Donbas area, and the issue of Russia's annexation of Crimea to be discussed in the next 50 years, as there is no way that this can be resolved peacefully at this stage. He also said that he supports Ukraine, as he would do for "any nation, any country, any people, that are defending their homes." On 10 March 2023, Varoufakis was dining with DiEM25 associates in central Athens when a group of individuals entered the restaurant, approached him, and accused him of siding with the troika, selling out on austerity bailouts. When he took the confrontation outside, they beat him violently, in what DiEM25 described as a "brazen fascist attack". At least one person, a teenager, was charged in the attack. After the attack, Varoufakis decided to accept police protection by the Ministry of Citizen Protection. At both the
May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May in the Southern Hemisphere is the ...
and June 2023 Greek elections, his party MeRA25 failed to pass the threshold necessary to enter the Greek parliament and Varoufakis was therefore not re-elected as an MP. At the 2024 European Parliament election, he was again a candidate in Greece but he was not elected. His movement DiEM25 stood electoral lists in Greece, Germany and Italy but failed to elect any MEP.


Gaza war and German entry ban

In April 2024, due to the ongoing
Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...
, the party of Yanis Varoufakis co-organised a pro-Palestinian conference that was scheduled to take place in Berlin on 12 April 2024, and last for three days. The conference was interrupted and halted as soon as it began by the Berlin Police, on the orders of Berlin mayor Kai Wegner. The police said they "feared that attendees would make anti-Semitic remarks and glorify violence". The German State issued a (ban on activities) against Yanis Varoufakis, Ghassan Abu-Sitta (who was arrested upon entering Germany), and Salman Abu Sitta. Germany also banned Varoufakis for four days from entering Germany and from engaging in any political activities in the country or from participating in similar exchanges on online platforms. Varoufakis responded to what he described as a road "towards totalitarianism" by suing the German State.


Works

Varoufakis is the author of several books on the European debt crisis, the financial imbalance in the world and
game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions. It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science. Initially, game theory addressed ...
.


''A Modest Proposal''

In November 2010, he and Stuart Holland, a former British Labour Party MP and economics professor at the
University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; , ) is a Public university, public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The university ...
(Portugal), published ''A Modest Proposal'', a set of economic policies aimed at overcoming the euro crisis. In 2013, Version 4.0 of ''A Modest Proposal'' appeared with the American economist James K. Galbraith as a third co-author. This version was published in late 2013 in French with a supporting foreword by
Michel Rocard Michel Rocard (; 23 August 1930 – 2 July 2016) was a French politician and a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS). He served as Prime Minister of France, Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 199 ...
, former Prime Minister of France. , ''Truman Factor'' features select articles by Varoufakis in English and in Spanish.


Books in English

* (ed.) ''Conflict in Economics''. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf and New York: St Martin's Press, 1990 (with David P. T. Young) * ''Rational Conflict''. Oxford: Blackwell, 1991 * ''Game Theory: A Critical Introduction''. London and New York: Routledge, 1995 (with Shaun Hargreaves-Heap), . 2nd rev ed, 2004 (''Game Theory: A critical text''), (translated also in Japanese) * ''Foundations of Economics: A beginner's companion''. London and New York: Routledge, 1998 (translation in Mandarin) * (ed.) ''Game Theory: Critical Perspectives''. Volumes 1–5, London and New York: Routledge, 2001 * ''Modern Political Economics: Making sense of the post-2008 world''. London and New York: Routledge, 2011 (with Joseph Halevi and Nicholas Theocarakis) * ''Economic Indeterminacy: A personal encounter with the economists' most peculiar nemesis''. London and New York:
Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...
, 2013 () * '' The Global Minotaur: America, the True Origins of the Financial Crisis and the Future of the World Economy''. London and New York:
Zed Books Zed Books is a non-fiction publishing company based in London, UK. It was founded in 1977 under the name Zed Press by Roger van Zwanenberg. Zed publishes books for an international audience of both general and academic readers, covering areas ...
, 2011 (). Translations in German, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Czech, Finnish, French, Norwegian, and Polish; 2nd ed, 2013; 3rd ed, 2015 * ''Europe after the Minotaur: Greece and the Future of the Global Economy''. London and New York: Zed Books, 2015 () * ''And the Weak Suffer What They Must? Europe's crisis, America's economic future''. New York: Nation Books, 2016 (U.S. edition, ); ''And The Weak Suffer What They Must?: Europe, Austerity and the Threat to Global Stability''. London: The Bodley Head, 2016 (UK edition, ) * ''Adults in the Room: My Battle With Europe's Deep Establishment''. London and New York: Random House, 2017 () ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' ranked ''Adults in the Room'' #86 in its list of 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. * ''Talking to My Daughter About the Economy''. The Bodley Head Ltd, 2017 () * ''Another Now: Dispatches from an Alternative Present'', Bodley Head, 2020 (); Melville House US, 2021 () * ''Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism'', Bodley Head UK, 2023 (); Melville House US, 2024 ()


Films

A film based on his book ''Adults in the Room'', was directed by
Costa-Gavras Konstantinos "Kostas" Gavras (; born 12 February 1933), known professionally as Costa-Gavras, is a Greek-French film director, screenwriter, and producer who lives and works in France. He is known for political films, such as the political thril ...
and released in 2019. Varoufakis himself is portrayed by actor Christos Loulis. Varoufakis was the subject of a 2024 six-part documentary series by director Raoul Martinez, titled ''In the Eye of the Storm: The Political Odyssey of Yanis Varoufakis''.


Personal life

Varoufakis is married to
installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific art, site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior intervent ...
ist Danae Stratou.


Notes


References


External links

*
Personal blog
at
Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...
, analysis of digital economies (archived 22 September 2012)
Personal commentary
published at Project Syndicate, analysis of Greece and Europe.
"Crush the Greeks!"
by Yanis Varoufakis, published at ''Truman Factor'' on 17 November 2014. *
Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism
Interview with Chris Hedges, 29 January 2025. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Varoufakis, Yanis 20th-century Greek economists 21st-century Greek economists 21st-century Australian economists Political economists Marxian economists Socialist economists * European democracy activists Libertarian socialists Libertarian Marxists Marxist theorists Australian Marxists Greek Marxist writers Academics of the University of East Anglia Alumni of the University of Birmingham Alumni of the University of Essex Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Finance ministers of Greece Greek government-debt crisis Greek MPs 2015 (February–August) Academic staff of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens People in the video game industry Valve Corporation people Politicians from Athens Greek MPs 2019–2023 Greek political party founders Naturalised citizens of Australia Greek emigrants to Australia Greek expatriates in England Greek expatriates in the United States Greek atheists 20th-century atheists 21st-century atheists 1961 births Living people