Yanis Varoufakis
Yanis Varoufakis, the Spitzenkandidat for
the EUROPEAN SPRING, set up by DiEM25, told EURACTIV Germany that: “If the European Left were
united, coherent and civilised, we wouldn’t have created Diem25, we’d have
joined them. Now we are running against them, which is very painful to us,” the
former Greek finance minister told EURACTIV Germany in an interview.
In the interview, Varoufakis
lashed out against leftist parties in Europe, saying that their lack of unity
cannot bring tangible electoral results and, therefore, changes in the
continent.
“There is no real European
Left anymore. There are people like Gregor Gysi [President of the European
Left], then there’s Alexis Tsipras, who imposes the most ridiculous austerity
policies on his people, or Podemos in Spain, who have no policy for Europe at
all.”
“The left parties have such
different fractions in them that issuing a party manifesto becomes a carte
blanche, it’s not coherent. This way you’re not going to draw voters from the
right or from progressive parties. You shrink,” Varoufakis said.
Asked if he considered joining
the leftist GUE/NGL political group in the next EU Parliament, Varoufakis said
ideally his movement would join none of them.
“We’d like to collaborate with
different groups on different issues. What the bureaucratic processes in terms
of the right to speak etc. may force us into is another thing. But I don’t
think this is the time to discuss this. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to
it.”
EU lawmakers from the GUE-NGL,
the Greens and the EU social democrats (S&D) have formed the so-called
Progressive Caucus, an informal group, which aims to build bridges among the
three political families and in the long run, form a “progressive” front.
But the European left remains
widely fragmented, as seen in the case of the leader of La France Insoumise,
Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Asked about this move,
Varoufakis said it was “just big talk”.
“They’re not really approaching
each other. The elections are in May but they don’t work together. They have no
common programme, the discourse on Progressive Caucus doesn’t affect their
electoral campaigns. It’s irrelevant.”
Why run in Germany?
Asked why he decided to run in
Germany, he replied, “If you want to change the Roman Empire, you start in
Rome”.
“Germany is the economic heart
of Europe, the engine that pulls it, whether we like it or not. But also
because public opinion in Germany, until recently at least, was much closer to
Europeanism than in France for example,” he said.
He added that the French
elites had always looked at the EU as an opportunity to project French power
globally whereas Germany really wanted to integrate into the European project.
“That’s why it is the best
place to work on democracy in Europe.”
https://www.euractiv.com/section/eu-elections-2019/news/varoufakis-there-is-no-real-european-left-i-am-running-against-them/
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