Yanis Varoufakis

Yanis Varoufakis is a member of Greece’s Parliament and leader of MeRA25, the Greek political party belonging to DiEM25 and Europe’s first transnational paneuropean movement.

Previously, he served as Greece’s Finance Minister during the first six months of 2015.

Varoufakis read mathematics and economics at the Universities of Essex and Birmingham and subsequently taught economics at the Universities of East Anglia, Cambridge, Sydney, Glasgow, Texas and Athens where he still holds a Chair in Political Economy and Economic Theory. He is also Honorary Professor of Political Economy at the University of Sydney, Honoris Causa Professor of Law, Economics and Finance at the University of Torino, Visiting Professor of Political Economy at King’s College, London, and Doctor of the University Honoris Causa at University of Sussex.

He is the author of a number of best-selling books, including ‘Adults in the Room: My struggle against Europe’s Deep Establishment’ (London: Bodley Head, 2017); ‘Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: A brief history of capitalism’ (London: Bodley Head, 2017), ‘And the Weak Suffer What They Must? Europe, Austerity and the Threat to Global Stability’ (London: Bodley Head and NY: Nation Books, 2016) and ‘The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the World Economy’ (London: Zed Books, 2011,2015).

His academic books include ‘Economic Indeterminacy’ (London: Routledge, 2014); ‘Foundations of Economics’ (London: Routledge, 1998); and ‘Rational Conflict’ (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991).

In his own words, Varoufakis was “thrust onto the public scene by Europe’s inane handling of an inevitable crisis”. In January 2015 he was elected to Greece’s Parliament with the largest majority in the country and served as Greece’s FinanceMinister (January to July 2015). During his term he experienced first hand the authoritarian inefficiency of the European Union’s institutions and had to negotiate with the Eurogroup, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Varoufakis resigned the finance ministry when he refused to sign a loan agreement that perpetuated Greece’s debt-deflationary cycle.

In February 2016 Varoufakis co-founded DiEM25, the Democracy in Europe Movement – Europe’s first transnational movement. In March 2018 DiEM25 founded MeRA25, its Greek political party. Led by Varoufakis, MeRA25 entered Parliament with nine MPs in the July 2019 General Election. South Africa