Yanis Varoufakis Best Quotes

Ioannis Georgiou "Yanis" Varoufakis (Greek: Ιωάννης Γεωργίου "Γιάνης" Βαρουφάκης Ioannis Georgiou "Gianis" Varoufakis, pronounced [ˈʝanis varuˈfacis]; born 24 March 1961)^[1]^[2] is a Greek economist, academic and politician, who served as the Greek Minister of Finance from January to July 2015, when he resigned. Varoufakis was also a Syriza member of the Hellenic Parliament (MP) for Athens B from January to September 2015.

Born in Athens in 1961, Varoufakis attended Moraitis School before moving to the United Kingdom, where he studied mathematics at the University of Essex, got a postgraduate degree in mathematical statistics at University of Birmingham, and a PhD in economics back at Essex. Whilst at university, he was a supporter of various political causes. Following university, he began a career in academic economics, teaching at the universities of Essex, East Anglia, and Cambridge between 1982 and 1988. Following Margaret Thatcher's third election victory in 1987, Varoufakis left the UK and moved to Australia, where he taught at the University of Sydney until 2000. He returned to Greece that year to teach at the University of Athens, where he led a doctoral program and was promoted to full professor in 2005. Following this, Varoufakis had periods of advising George Papandreou and working as the economist-in-residence for Valve Corporation before moving to the United States to teach at the University of Texas at Austin. Varoufakis has published a number of texts on economics and game theory, such as The Global Minotaur.

In January 2015, Varoufakis was appointed as the Minister of Finance, and led negotiation with Greece's creditors during the Greek government-debt crisis. However, he failed to reach an agreement with creditors, leading to the 2015 Greek bailout referendum. The day following the referendum, on 6 July 2015, Varoufakis resigned as Minister of Finance and was replaced by Euclid Tsakalotos. On 24 August, Varoufakis voted against the third bailout package, and in the ensuing September snap election, did not stand for re-election. Varoufakis has since appeared in numerous debates, lectures, and interviews. In February 2016, he launched the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), and subsequently backed a Remain vote in the UK's European Union membership referendum 2016.

Yanis Varoufakis Best Quotes

Fences and borders are a sign of weakness.

Yanis Varoufakis

Regular crises perpetuate the past by reinvigorating cycles which started long ago. In contrast, (capital-C) Crises are the past's death knell. They function like laboratories in which the future is incubated. They have given us agriculture and the industrial revolution, technology and the labour contract, killer germs and antibiotics. Once they strike, the past ceases to be a reliable predictor of the future and a brave new world is born.

Yanis Varoufakis

We will compromise and compromise and compromise but we will never be compromised.

Yanis Varoufakis

If the British think they can simply detach from the continent and sail towards the USA or China, then they are mistaken.

Yanis Varoufakis

Nothing is more boring than talking to people who share my opinion anyway.

Yanis Varoufakis

Every sensible banker understands that Greece should not have received any more money: a bankrupt state that can never be expected to repay loans is not a good debtor.

Yanis Varoufakis

Had history been democratic in its ways, there would have been no farming and no indsturial revolution. Both leaps into the future were occasioned by unbearably painful crises that made most people wish they could recoil into the past.

Yanis Varoufakis

Germany is Europe's heart. But bitterness is widespread. Currently the Germans hate the Greeks and the Greeks hate the Germans. The demonization of the country has to stop if we want a strong Europe. So I am setting a positive example.

Yanis Varoufakis

I don't believe a Brexit will hurt the City of London as one of the largest financial centers in the world.

Yanis Varoufakis

The many refugees are not a Greek or German problem. They are a European problem. We should therefore develop a common strategy. That's why I am launching a cross-border movement for more democracy.

Yanis Varoufakis

European Union partners never said European Union partners're going to renege on any promises, European Union partners said that European Union partners promises concern a four-year parliamentary term, european Union partners will be spaced out in an optimal way, in a way that is in tune with our bargaining stance in Europe and also with the fiscal position of the Greek state.

Yanis Varoufakis

Anyone who toys with the idea of cutting off bits of the eurozone hoping the rest will survive is playing with fire.

Yanis Varoufakis

The economic crisis has weakened the EU for years.

Yanis Varoufakis