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Varoufakis: Europe’s North South Divide Has Returned
Can Europe’s leaders learn the lessons of the previous crisis?
Yanis Varoufakis, the former academic turned political firebrand, is the perennial outsider. Too effective for his own good, his was forced out by his own Syriza prime minister Alexis Tsipras at the behest of the troika (a term deemed too insensitive or too ironic, depending on who you asked).
As leader of the MeRA25 party he has effectively consigned himself to the political sidelines, but when he speaks out it is always worth listening. As one of the few politicians in Europe who is capable of integrating the lessons of the past, however painful they may be, he is uniquely placed to offer insight into the current pandemic and the eurozone’s response.
In an interview with German newspaper Berliner-Zeitung, Varoufakis again plays the Miranda of today’s Europe as the continent reverts to its old playbook of bailout funds and overbearing fiscal interventions.
Referring to Europe’s leaders, Varoufakis says they “resemble the Bourbons: they have forgotten nothing and they have learned nothing.” For the uninitiated (and I must count myself among them here), the quote is often attributed to Talleyrand, although the original source is unknown. Restoring a dynasty with so much baggage…
