DiEM25In retrospect, how do economists evaluate what happened in 2015? Here are some examples: Professors Jeff Sachs (Columbia) and James K. Galbraith (Texas): “Thomas Wieser’s claim that Yanis Varoufakis and the Greek government of 2015 cost their economy 200 billion euros is ludicrous. As Wieser knows – because he was one of the architects of […] Read more
On 15th June 2017, nearly two years after Yanis Varoufakis had resigned as Minister of Finance, the Eurogroup published yet another statement on Greece, which shows that nothing has changed. Below we quote it with Varoufakis’ annotations as per his 2017 blog post. Back in August 2015, while sitting gloomily in the Greek Parliament during […] Read more
Annotations by Yanis Varoufakis in square brackets. [For a pdf copy click here.] Euro Summit Statement Brussels, 12 July 2015 The Euro Summit stresses the crucial need to rebuild trust with the Greek authorities [i.e. the Greek government must introduce new stringent austerity directed at the weakest Greeks that have already suffered grossly] as a […] Read more
On the night of the 25th June, Varoufakis wrote this letter of resignation, anticipating that within hours PM Tsipras’ concessions, amounting to surrender, would lead to an agreement with the troika – an agreement that Varoufakis could not live with. However, on 25th June, the troika refused to acknowledge PM Tsipras’ white flag – forcing […] Read more
By 22nd June, Varoufakis was utterly at odds with PM Tsipras whose continual concessions to the troika meant acquiescence on most fronts, including crucially debt restructuring. In this document Varoufakis attempted to introduce moderate restructuring operations that, while insufficient, would have reduced some of the debt burden at no cost to the creditors. Read the […] Read more
On 11th June – exactly a month after Varoufakis issued his comprehensive ANTI-MoU – a new version appears entitled ENDING THE GREEK CRISIS. In the meantime, PM Tsipras had (without Varoufakis’ approval/knowledge) conceded enormous primary surpluses (austerity). Varoufakis, despite his vociferous disagreement with PM Tsipras’ concessions, incorporated the new fiscal targets in this ANTI-MoU which […] Read more
CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO Thank you for inviting me. Thank you for being here. Thank you for the warm welcome. Above all thank you for the opportunity to build bridges, to pave common ground, to bring harmony in the face of blatant attempts to sow the seeds of discord between peoples whose historic duty is to come […] Read more
On 5th June the Financial Times publishes Varoufakis’ revised proposals for restructuring Greece’s public debt. Read here. Read more
On 17th May, following their verbal agreement with the IMF’s Poul Thomson to reduce the number of VAT bands to two while also reducing the VAT rates substantially, Varoufakis submitted a detailed VAT proposal to the troika (below). This was refined, simplified and costed a few days later. Download the refined version as Excel VAT […] Read more
On 11th May, 2015, Varoufakis issues, and submits for public scrutiny, his ministry’s ANTI-MoU – that is, a comprehensive policy framework for Greece’s recovery and growth. Read it here Read more