In the conclave held yesterday in Brussels, bringing together presidents or prime ministers of the 28 countries of the European Union, discussions focus on the intent of the new Greek government to persuade the Europeans of the need to replace the current austerity program, which ends next week and that was imposed on Greece in return for two bailouts from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since 2010.
In this task the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, but especially his finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, a man who leaves no one indifferent concentrated. Some praise his good nature; others, his frank and intense gaze, and curious child ready to conquer the world; the most, that ability to put the finger on it (Europe, IMF, markets) that has become the enfant terrible of the new Greek Government.
But what everyone agrees on Varoufakis is that this Greek born in Australia in 1961, so cosmopolitan that their mother tongue exhibits a clear foreign leave, is a machine to produce headlines. “Greece is in a coma” (in 2012) or “The Troika is applying to our country tax waterboarding” (torture known as waterboarding) are just two examples.
Varoufakis feel a visceral attraction to get in all the puddles, but not enough for communication in all its aspects, of the university to writing and social networks, which has developed a very active profile arena. Seconds before ripped the first cabinet meeting of the new Greek government was tweeting (has 218,000 followers and counting), and that continues. Shortly after updating his blog to refute information on the position of his government on penalties to Russia, or to refine their proposals on the rescue after giving a loud slam the Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
The woman’s new finance minister is Danae Stratou, renowned artist and member of a family well, between patrician and bohemian. Varoufakis, by contrast, was a child of the Greek diaspora, the son of immigrants in Australia (where the second helena colony is concentrated abroad), but his personality and his career have given a wide breath: A disheveled studied modern; innate spontaneity and “talented, very talented,” says a colleague. Enough to quote the poet Dylan Thomas, Monty Python or myth of Sisyphus or Casandra while formulating economic proposals.
By telephone or television, Varoufakis sounds like machine gun fire, no matter who speaks English or Greek. Accidental Economist, as he likes to be called, Keynesian and expert in game theory, was formed at the University of Essex (UK) and has taught in Athens and Texas as a visiting professor; was also advisor to the former Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou. His book The Global Minotaur (Captain Swing) made him a postmodern economic guru, with his theory that any past was better (in particular the unrecoverable economic strength of US and EU) and that the world must prepare to order the chaos of accounts. Theirs is the curse of debt, also endorsed the proposal of a new European deal contained in the government program
“What stands Yanis is his charisma.; a communicative charisma “he explains, on condition of anonymity, one of his partner in classrooms over the last decade. “When he came in 2001-2002, was not at all-what was known then, from 2008, but caused a small revolution. The university was still a place rooted in tradition, and suddenly he appears in jeans and t-shirt … He was very popular among students; adored, because someone capable of whet your brain and get inside knowledge without costing you, “says the source, who shared with him several investigations.
The picture painted by the new minister those who have treaty is unanimous: someone who knows what he wants, who find it hard to change their minds, “but open to dialogue on issues of research and academics,” says his former colleague. What will also be in the political negotiations? That “strong vision” that all attribute, is it an obstacle to Europe or a blessing for Greece? Or both? “It’s so nice and firm”, remembers his colleague, “but has such a strong character that leaves no one indifferent.”
Varoufakis was not the mastermind of the economic program of SYRIZA, or not the only . The author is a step below Yanis Milia, a Marxist professor trained in Germany. The same Varoufakis, no more political experience than da be an “erratic Marxist” now opens in the House as deputy. “The critical engagement is a form of praxis”, often repeating this accidental minister facing almost Herculean tasks, a centaur among the technocrats in Brussels, with a taste for dialectics, gym, bikes, and manages to alter their peers European.
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