Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has launched a new pan-European umbrella group that aims to pull together left-wing parties, grassroots protest movements and “rebel regions” from across the continent.
At the launch on Tuesday night, Mr. Varoufakis said that the new DiEM25 movement would “shake Europe — gently, compassionately, but firmly”. “Europe will be democratised, or it will disintegrate, and it will do so quite fast”, the self-described “erratic Marxist” said, warning of a return to a “postmodern version of the 1930s”. The evening at Berlin’s Volksbtheatre, also featured speeches from Barcelona Mayor, Ada Colau, British Green MP Caroline Lucas, representatives of Germany’s Blockupy movement, as well as musician Brian Eno, philosopher Slavoj Zizek and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. “When Parliaments become theatres, we have to turn theatres into Parliaments”, said Miguel UrbCrespo, an MEP for Spain’s Podemos party.
In an article published in The Guardian last week, Mr. Varoufakis had said the DiEM25 group would lobby for more transparent processes in European decision-making.
“Our medium-term goal is to convene a constitutional assembly where Europeans will deliberate on how to bring forth, by 2025, a full-fledged European democracy, featuring a sovereign Parliament that … shares power with national Parliaments, regional assemblies and municipal councils”, said the economist academic, who resigned from government in July last year after a series of run-ins with other European Finance Ministers.
Asked what made him feel sure that DiEM25 could succeed where movements like Attac had not, Mr. Varoufakis replied: “Absolutely nothing. But it’s the only way I can wake up in the morning and feel energised.” — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2016
