Greek former finance minister and anti-austerity maverick Yanis Varoufakis on Monday launched a new party. This is part of a movement in several European countries to contest EU elections next year.
Pledging to “bring realistic hope” to Greece, Varoufakis said the grassroots pro-European movement is composed of “people of the left and liberalism, greens and feminists.”
“We will not mince our words,” the 57-year-old economics professor told a news conference, seated on a theatre stage next to a red neon sign bearing the new party’s name: MeRA25.
MeRA25 is part of DiEM25, a transnational anti-establishment movement urging a “new deal” for a continent that has been hit by the fallout of the 2008 economic crisis.
Varoufakis presented his economic plan for Greece, the so-called “Greek New Deal”.
The plan contains “Two national goals and Six reform”.
The two national goals for Greece need to be to:
- 1. reduce drastically all tax rates and the fixed cost of financial activities
- 2. restructure meaningfully both private and public debt
Achieving these two goals can and must be the basis of a “New Deal for
Greece” that will make Greece’s social economy viable again, the plan foresees .
Achieving these two goals therefore requires six reforms in the following
areas:
1.
Taxation:
A significant and immediate reduction in tax rates
2.
Fiscal target:
The simultaneous cancellation of swinging austerity and
ridiculously high primary budget surplus targets, coupled with a
corresponding restructuring of public debt
3.
A Public Digital Payments System:
The introduction of a digital payments platform, based on the tax office’s web interface, that
allows for the simultaneous cancellation of arrears (by the state to privateers, by privateers to the state and between privateers) as well as a program to tackle poverty and social exclusion
4.
Non-performing loans:
A public ‘bad’ bank to manage non-performing private loans, coupled with a moratorium on all auctions of primary residences
5.
Investment:
A new public investment bank that uses remaining public assets as collateral to generate investment funding, in association with the European Investment Bank, shares of which will
be handed over to pension funds for the purposes of bolstering their capitalisation
6.
Respect towards waged labour and entrepreneurship:
The restructuring of taxation policies for freelancers and start-ups and the end of commodifying labour by allowing waged workers to work as if they were private contractors.
How to implement these six reforms, regardless of the negotiations? The answer is here together with the whole 11-page long
Greek New Deal.
MeRA25 will participate in the next parliamentary elections in Greece, and DiEM25 in the European Parliament elections in 2019.
PS in contrast to other Greek political parties, at least Varoufakis can present an economic plan – regardless of whether one agrees with it or not.
He is one of the few economists, along with Michael Hudson, Steve Keen, and David Stockmann, who have any brains. Kostas Lapavitsas is another who sees the dilemas correctly.
Baroufas should be hiding in shame after the disastrous negotiations of 2016
He is a delusional Leftie..but then again, GR is full of them.