Monday evening in Patras. One day after the German elections. Scenarios about the removal of Wolfgang Schaeuble from the finance ministry circulate in full speed. Former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis speaks in front of an audience that came at an event organized by the pan-European political movement he had founded, the DIEM25.
He presents his plan about a “Greek new deal”. He targets those Greeks who voted NO in Referendum of 2015 and were bitterly disappointed and frustrated when the government ignored their vote.
Yanis Varoufakis wears a t-shirt with a bold message. It is devoted to his former colleague and foe Wolfgang Schaeuble.
The icon on the t-shirt shows a man on a wheelchair rolling over another man laying on the floor. The script reads “It’s the economy stupid!”
The phrase was used by Schaeuble against Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during a lenders’ conference about the implementation of the Greek Agreement in Davos in January 2016.
In an article posted on his website on Thursday, Varoufakis correctly notes that “Schaeuble goes but Schaeublelism stays?
“Wolfgang Schaeuble may have left the Federal Ministry of Finance but his campaign to use the euro crisis to turn the eurozone into a Iron Cage of Austerity (the very opposite of a democratic federation) lives and reigns.
The rise of FDP, the Liberal Democrats, ensures that Dr. Schaeuble’s retirement will not overturn the policies with which he did everything possible that the eurozone will not become a viable macro-economy” Varoufakis writes among others.
Describing the FDP as a party that is more Schaeuble than Schaeuble himself, Varoufakis notes that the FDP will continue Schaeuble’s line of “keeping the eurozone in a state of a permanent (controlled) crisis that operates as a discipline tool for the countries in deficit -especially France.”
PS To tell you the truth I find a touch of tastelessness on the t-shirt icon. However, if one keeps in mind the wall Schaebule built around the eurozone so that Varoufakis could smash his head every time he opened the eurogroup door, all I can say is:
Revenge is a dish best served cold – even if Varoufakis eats it a hit below the belt.
Using somebody’s disability to send a ‘powerful’ (?) political and economic message? Sorry, that’s a no-no, for me. I personally wouldn’t dare. But I’m not …Yanis.
SChaeuble’s brain functions about as well as his legs.
A narcissistic, arrogant liar who could not even stay in office for 2 years vs a man who serves his country for 40+ years with distinction and who ended in a wheelchair because of an assassination attempt.
Varoufakis has still not explained where the “deal he was willing to sign the dotted line on” was that he claimed to exist before the referendum:
@Piedpiper Schäuble serves the big banks, not his country, much less Europe (and I don’t mean the evil EU in Brussels).
It doesn’t seem like the author is too fond of Varoufakis, that’s understandable. But regardless, even if he is arrogant at times, he is always a gentlemen. He never gave free punches at Schaeuble or others as Finance Minister, although that can’t be said about Schaeuble who has no respect for anyone.
I don’t think the wheelchair icon is supposed to make fun of Schaeuble’s disability, but it definitely pinpoints exactly who he is referencing to– which is probably the point. If anything, it’s the slogan “It’s the economy, stupid!” that is more offensive because it is mocking Schaeuble’s words at Davos.
Anyways, I am a fan of the tshirt!! If you ever see anyone starting to sell it, let me know as I would like to buy one!
@carlwilliam
Schäuble is a member of parliament for 45 years, and served in various ministerial and party posts over that time. If at any time in the last 30 year he had felt the need to “cash in” on his connections/knowledge, he could ve left politics to join the boards of any DAX companies of his choosing and get a comfortable bank/lawyer job anywhere, like Schröder does today with Putin. The fact that he never did shows that he serves Germany with distinction, while Varoufakis is and remains a liar who played with the fate of Greece by claiming that he already had a better deal he would sign if only all Greeks voted NO in the referendum:
#piedpiper links are not allowed in comments section
“…he serves Germany with distinction,”…Really? I seem to remember the CDU scandal. I think St. Schäuble serves himself first and foremost.
@Piedpiper Schäuble would have served well under the Nazi regime. His understanding of economics is just following what the big banks want and to h-ell with the people of Greece, of the EU and of his own country. He is serving the hypocrite Merkel and not his country.
Schäuble was working for a rigged system, not capitalism. If the big banks made bad investments in Greece then let THEM take the losses, and too bad. Neither Greece nor the German taxpayers should “bail them out”. Banker is the only profession that has absolutely no value for society.
@carl. As I have understood things, Schaeuble was not working for a rigged system: on the contrary, he was one of the key personnel creating a rigged system. It’s the difference between following orders and playing a major role in promoting evil.
I do not support the claim that our politicians (Germans, Greeks, British, French, US, etc.) are mere puppets, taking their orders from banks and the world’s billionaires. They have actively chosen to feather their own nests by participating eagerly in systemic corruption and making sure that they have massively overpaid future “employment” and unearned income for their old age. Follow the money…
@ Martin Baldwin-Edwards,
I am sure you are correct. Thanks for info.