Greek Political Rebel Wants to Take on Europe Again
What a lunatic! What is REALISTIC with his political party? (hfk)
Date: 27-03-2018
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Sometime Finance Government minister Yanis Varoufakis unveils a new party called the European Realistic Disobedience Front
Sometime Greek Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis arrives to present his new party, the European Realistic Disobedience Front in Athens.
ATHENS— Yanis Varoufakis is back to rescue Greece and stone the European establishment again. Or so he hopes.
On Mon dark the flamboyant sometime finance minister, who enraged European authorities at the height of Hellenic republic'south debt crisis in 2015, launched his new Greek political political party at a theater here.
That yr, his country bowed to strict thrift demands. Now his solution to Greece'southward sky-high debt is the same as his unsuccessful push before: to prove creditors who'southward dominate.
If elected, he told the gathering of around 300 people, he will run looser budgets. Greek banks will be revived with public coin. He will bandy Greece's bonds for new ones whose payments depend on economic growth. These and other policies to stop Greece'due south "debt colony status" volition be implemented on day i, he said. And this time, unlike in 2015, he vowed there will exist no negotiation with Europe, no give up.
His party is called the European Realistic Disobedience Front end. His refrain is that Europe'southward establishment is unrealistic, not him. "When they start sending orders, they will receive potent disobedience," he said. "They will have to bear the cost of defenestrating us from the euro, or take our policies," he said to warm adulation.
Many eurozone officials wanted to defenestrate Mr. Varoufakis in 2015, when he was the media-friendly face of Greece's defection under the populist left-wing Syriza political party confronting the austerity policies of German-led creditors.
Mr. Varoufakis's leather jacket, motorcycle and combative soundbites made him a global celebrity. Then, too, he argued that Greece could force Europe into concessions by only saying no.
The problem was that Deutschland was willing to dump Greece from the euro, but most Greeks didn't want to be thrown out. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras tardily accustomed that his nearly-broke government had no alternative to European bailout loans.
After firing Mr. Varoufakis as finance minister, Mr. Tsipras signed up to Deutschland'southward tough austerity terms in July 2015. Greece is set to complete the three-yr program this summer, ending the biggest sovereign bailout in history.
Mr. Varoufakis views the Syriza government'due south reversal as a great betrayal. He has turned his version of events into bestselling books and popular lectures. Syriza has accused Mr. Varoufakis of "myth-making."
Outside Greece, he still has legions of fans. In Greece, however, he struggles to command wider respect these days. Many ordinary Greeks view his confrontational tactics equally a costly failure. They promise for a gradual return to economic stability, not another fight with Europe.
To Mr. Varoufakis, even so, Hellenic republic is condign a permanent "debt colony" of Europe. On Monday he compared the struggle to Greece'southward 1820s state of war of independence confronting the Ottoman Empire.
Opinion polls have non yet gauged whether his new party, known by its Greek acronym MeRA25, can make an bear on. Elections are due by fall 2019. The party is function of Mr. Varoufakis's Europe-broad movement for more than democracy, called DiEM25, which has attracted support from prominent left-wing intellectuals.
Some spoke at Monday night's launch. American linguist and radical political writer Noam Chomsky, appearing by video from Arizona, called Mr. Varoufakis's new party "a beacon of promise in our troubled globe."
British musician Brian Eno said Greeks have given the globe bang-up ideas, "similar ouzo and democracy." Croatian philosopher Srecko Horvat described how founding DiEM25 with Mr. Varoufakis helped him overcome a bad breakup.
Cretan folk singer Psarantonis played ane song after another on his traditional lyra instrument, visibly enjoying himself. Mr. Varoufakis had to step on stage to give thanks him and stop him. The hirsute musician protested that he wasn't finished.
Mr. Varoufakis wore an untucked blackness shirt, a expect he once sported at high-level European meetings. His motto, he told his audience, is "constructive disobedience."
"Our strategic choice is to be in Europe, just confronting this Europe," he said.
Not everyone present saw Mr. Varoufakis every bit Hellenic republic'due south hope and savior. A group of men became embroiled in argument with him, shouting that he should face trial. They were supporters of a rival political gadfly: a cocky-declared billionaire called Artemis Sorras who promises, if elected, to repay Greece's €320 billion national debt out of his own pocket.
Equally his own followers quarreled with the Sorras supporters, Mr. Varoufakis left the building.
Source: https://fbkfinanzwirtschaft.wordpress.com/2018/03/28/greek-political-rebel-wants-to-take-on-europe-again/
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