Oct.09 -- Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis discusses Italy's budget battle, the Italian government's dealings with the European Union, and the need for a European banking union. He speaks on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Americas."
I am italian, it's a fact that "austerity" since 2011 to 2017 increased our pubblic debt as fast as never before, we will not let us be blackmailed by Eu no more!
@@LeMerch you know that the old political class, the one who destroyed the country, is the same that wants to stay in EU? berlusconi is pro EU and so is the old corrupt left. want us to vote them in again?
Jason King Dominus Yes it's strange how the UK gives nothing to the EU and yet they don't want the UK to leave you would think after all this time the EU has proped the UK up they would be glad to see the back of them I find that very strange
McCready 747 that's because you are forever looking from the perspective of a citizen; and I'm not saying this is right, but if you look at it from the perspective of banks it will become perfectly clear. Banks have the will, they have the lawyers, the have the accountants, they can affect politicians, and they have the media/ PR, and they have a profit motive... It was therefore easy to take control of the sovereign currency, and the citizens are too ignorant and preoccupied and mal-represented to do anything about it. Your perspective of "never understanding" is called Insanity: repeating the same thing yet expecting different results. You either do not want to understand or you just cannot think critically.
All countries in the world have Their central bank and their currency sovereign, and they grew a lot from the last economic shock. Only Europe has not all this and the countries inside the eurozone grew not as the others outside are doing.
SSP;yes enough is enough,the world will be at peace once brussels,EU parliament,for enforcing phony laws that only work for them , are serving their jail time.
those shackles where created, by european elites and most influentially GB elites. if you "free" yourself from them it gets much worse. it will look like nazis have couped themselves in power.
gut rot;YOU the only one in the whole world to get it right,we have a lot of work to do,i don't think the 2 of us will win,however I have 10 hens and 2 roosters and 19 eggs,and 11 chicks,i,m willing to barter,what vou got....
I'm sorry, Varoufakis is a very likeable character, and I enjoy listening to him sometimes. But here, he has his typical socialist denial on display. When confronted with the real world results of socialism and federalism, they always say some small thing needs to be tinkered with and changed. 7:11 freely admits the EU and the Euro has damaged italy, yet still out of principle he supports the whole European project....just anyway?
@@billybong7394 "typical socialist" you say that like its a bad thing - its not. "they always say some small thing needs to be tinkered with and changed." ........and the capitalists never say 'please sir can we have some free public money and protective policies - for the good of all; we are too big to allow to fail' ?
LMAO.... say the pathetic anglo/american schmucks who are being well and truly screwed by the bankster parasites and their political stooges who told them that "the wealth would trickle down"... and does anyone take this pathetic, soros stooge with delusions of adequacy seriously any more? Baroufuckis spews all that contradictory waffle depending what ever the "audience" and those paying want to hear - that's why he was dropped kicked out of government by his squabbling so-called - LOL - "communist" comrades after they realized their poster boy "rock star" was a bigger treasonous yankee stooge than they are... and now look at what is happening with the so-called - LOL - "populists" in Italy...
I am British, i am a UKIP voter and i voted for Brexit and still would. I love Europe and all the countries and their different peoples. I hate the EU. The Treaty of Rome in 1957 started the EEC..."European ECONOMIC Community. Britain was happy to join the trading club. When it became the EU, it changed to a political project, one size fits all. Throughout history tyrants come and go and hurl insults from across the channel at us on this island. Britain did not bend to Napoleon or Hitler. Britain stands alone, so be it. We are leaving the EU. The EU must reform or it will all come crashing down. No to political union but rather a collection of sovereign countries, free to make their own laws and free trade amongst each other.
No, the four freedoms and the "ever closer union" were already in the Treaty of Rome. The EU and its predecessors were always a political project. The goal was always a Europe that grows ever closer together over the decades.
I have no problem with the principles of free movements of goods, services and capital, but why does the EU insist on adding the free movement of people? Or encouraging the Eurozone? The indivisible units of the EU is the constituent countries, but free movement of people and the adoption of a common currency (and all the associated rules that come with it) destroy them.
The ability to freely travel, work and live in any European country greatly enhances connections between the countries, cultural and economic. Remember, the goal of European unification always was to make war between European nations not only impossible, but unthinkable. What better way to do that, than to have friends and family everywhere. By the way, freedom of movement does not allow people to just move to a country and claim benefits. The common currency has the same goals. But this was a long process, and the EU was very divided on whether more economic unification or monetary unification should come first. But careful planning got kicked out of the window when the UK and France wanted the monetary union as a price for German reunification. Funny thing the UK didn't even take part in the Euro in the end. And there's still lots of work to be done to make the Euro work in the long run.
Leaving the EU is the best thing that any country can do including Italy. And forget about doing business with Washington! The EU was a CIA initiative. The EU and all of its leaders and countries are vassals to Washington. It would be better for Italy to have closer ties with Russia and China than with the corrupt and evil Washington. I advise you to read articles by Paul Craig Roberts who knows more about international agendas.
@Riccardo B Why with UK, Australia and USA? Trump will be imposing tariffs to the Italians, it is what will happen to the UK post Brexit. Do you think the Americans would be nicer than the EU to the Brits? It all comes with a price, especially under Trump's presidency.
?? look that italians are not interested in leaving EU... we are interested in leaving the Euro... EU is fine, providing we have our own currency and our own central bank. UK leaving the EU is a nostalgic reflux of the old empire... italians have long placed the Roman empire in the drawers of the history books...
@@lambertoazzi7883 I agree, the EU must be reformed. It was supposed to be a community of nations with free trade and free movement of people. It is evolving into tyranny.
You seem to be under the impression that the average European will have a greater say in things if EU completely disintegrates, as opposed to Varufakis's solution of democratizing it.
@@Ronni3no2 Varoufakis has good intentions and he is a noble man. However his understanding of human nature is deeply flawed. It leads him to the naive belief that a single pan-European democracy can be easily built. In reality human nature is highly clannish, and different functioning democracies in European nations with very diverse heritages and culture can not be easily merged into a super democracy. (If you have any doubt about the the clannishness in human nature - simply witness the political left close rank and behaving in extremely clannish ways toward anyone who holds different opinions).
Yeah, by saying that the dictatorship in EU should be replaced by democracy, he is definitely saying that we need more dictatorship in order to achieve democracy. You nailed it.
Varoufakis isn't trying to democratize Europe. Check out his party manifesto. There's nothing of democracy or value there. He's just shilling to get into the commission. I can think of some proper ways to make EU into a better thing, but both Junker, Verhofstadt, Varoufakis, Merkel all believe that that would be too much democracy for our own good. Leave!
@@ireneuszpyc6684 apart from the fact that the EU is an undemocratic neoliberal dictatorship. It will fragment. The rise of populism is only just beginning. Macron is the most unpopular president in French political history. Couple that with the looming emerging markets currency crisis, which will HAMMER the EURO, and it doesn't take much working out as to what's coming next.
undemocratic dictatorship? you're not only an idiot, but also a hypocrite: you subscribed to Russia Today & The Duran - they're financed by Russian government, led (since the 1990s) by the dictator Vladimir Putin; Putin himself admitted that Russia is not really a democracy; emerging markets currencies have nothing to do with the Euro currency; why don't you draw a link between U.K. pound sterling & emerging markets currencies?
Italians do not want to become like Greeks. The responsible for our miserable economic situation is EU. We thus have to leave it like a slave who breaks his chains.
your comment is a statement of intellectual dishonesty. Our miserable economic situation is due to the crazy spending our politicians have done for the last 30 years overburdening us with a huge debt. But it seems that for you it is easier to place the blame on others rather than admitting our own responsibilities.
babs pumpkin And if you are intellectual honest you should also know that the debt is not a problem for the economy of a country if it is guaranteed by a central bank 👍 Japan has the highest world debt and their economy is growing up.
Jason King Dominus With a devalued Italian currency our commercial export would be more competitive and import not. After all Italy has a solid economy: a good industrial humus; decades of growing up commercial export; the largest private savings in Europe and it is the second power manufacturing in Europe 👍 italy is not like Greece. If Italy exit someone could cry in Europe. Anyway UK is growing well this year.
Social Gadfly The debt shall be pay in the corrent country currency, as already happened when italy joined in the euro, the debt was changed automatically in the new currency. The italian debt is sustainable, as announced more times by the same European commision. The risk came if there isn't a central bank which doesn't want to guarantee for it, forcing to selling the debt to the private exchanges with higher interests. May Argentina did not teach enough to all?
Varoufakis descrive l'Italia come il Giappone d'Europa, un paese industrializzato orientato all'export con una criticità demografica, banche poco affidabili, debito pubblico importante. Ma cosa accadrebbe al Giappone se fosse forzato ad avere un pareggio di bilancio e al tempo stesso proibissero alla Banca nazionale del Giappone di inondare il mercato con liquidità? Il Giappone non avrebbe speranze perché le regole europee non si posso applicare a una economia come il Giappone o come l'Italia. Secondo Varoufakis, l'Italia anziché chiedere all'Europa la possibilità di sforare dovrebbe usare la sua forza di terza potenza dell'eurozona per chiedere di riscrivere le regole.
No she wants to know if the paying customers of Bloomberg should start short selling Italian bonds and stocks. That's all they care about, their money.
Marek Pawlik;to late its been going on for years and years our politicians made us slaves to pay the bankers debt off for the wars the bankers created in the first place,only the bankers did not tell them that it would be impossible to pay the debt off,clever politicians fell for a trick and now the peasants will be slaves forever.
As an Italian I see not enough talk is made about tax evasion, a massive problem in Italy. Another problem that is wasting money is burocracy. Politicians like Berlusconi made things worst by creating new state jobs and entities that had no right to exist and added yet another level of burocracy but won him many plaudits. Never mind the country ground to a halt. The all system must be slimmed down and rejuvenated but that's not all that's necessary. Europe must stop the flood of cheap goods from China, cheap labour from Africa and a real discussion about the race to automation must take place. Companies replaced humans with robots to their advantage but what about jobs ? Who draws the line ? Is it right for the whole world to shop from Amazon ? Or is it dangerous ? In the modern world new rules must be in place, local economy must be protected. Finally, the absence of even the idea of Meritocracy is another big problem in Italy. Every italian knows this but if you were to remove certain safety nets to certain business and force companies to be competitive a little more attention to hire real talent might take place. Hiring brothers, sisters, girlfriends, brothers in law, friends of friends can only go so far.
That is mickey mouse compared to having your budgets approved by Brussels and your youth skipping off to London for fun .... Before 2003, Italy had a STRONGER economy than France and the UK in the 1990s. The EU has made Italians see themselves as worthless and helpless as Spaniards when in the 90s that was NEVER the case. Italy needs to get out of the EU and be self reliant.
Okay so there is rules only for Italy but not for France or Germany or Luxembourg or Ireland or Spain they can do anything they want this is Europe?? ITALY need to exit this euro!!
The title under which this interview is posted utterly mischaracterises the emphasis in what Varoufakis was saying. He was stressing that it is the policies of the EU that risk its own disintegration and that this is on account of the fact that these are positively harmful to an economy structured such as Italy's. He was only critical of Italy on account of the fact that it is not pushing for fundamental reform at the EU level.
Italy's banks are a disaster because they give loans to unreliable debtors who end up defaulting. In the US, you can be foreclosed upon after 90 days. In Italy, you are considered in 'good standing' if you have made at least one partial payment in 270 days.
In Italy the banks should has a social mission: to support the economy and the growth of the country. How could be a social growth if the people are considered just only unreliable debitors? there is not profit to foreclose a your debitor. And if i remember well, from USA came the two biggest economy disasters of all times, with hundreds american banks failed. In Italy only 4🤔 so i think they are not so a “disaster”
Daniele Peltrera, the reason is because of Italy's lax rules. Being a leader in Non-Performing Loans (NPL) is not a badge of honor. It is a disaster in the making. In the end, the people will find their bank accounts empty. You must understand that Americans do not rely on bank loans. Americans prefer the faceless stock market. So when American banks get into trouble, the contagion in the economy is limited. However in Italy, the banks do everything they can to hide their insolvency. This game can only go on so far.
Mac Tek Yup, italian banks are not great banks like Leman Brothers and Bank of america, wich they dont hide their insolvency...🤔Oh, if you dont know in italy it is a crime to request a loan knowing to not be able to pay it, it is called fraudolent insolvency, and it can be persecutes within 90 days of the fact.
Why are Italian banks are sitting on Europe's largest pile of non-performing loans then? Italy amassed its pile of non-performing loans during years of little or no economic growth. Add to that the nightmare of Italy's shrinking population. You will never convince Italians in their 40s and 50s to start having babies. Italy has made sure they will never have a consumer-led economy. They can't grow their way out of this mess.
Mac Tek The reasons of the italian depopulation are many: 1) the lack of jobs, expecially at south regions; 2) the jobs qualities available; 3) the emigration of the italian younger citiziens to other countries for better jobs opportunities. It is common in many others european countries. You dont know anytying about the economy situation of italy, the problem is not the banks or the loans , but from years of bad politics choices made in europe, for example: during the crisis period, others countries like Germany and Spain got bilions of euro in helps to stabilize their suffering banks (Spain got 53 bilions of euros, and Germany got 197 bilions of euro!), italy with Mario Monti prime minister, did not asked theese necessary helps.
Spin title "Varoufakis Says Italy's Actions Bring EU Closer to Disintegration" is NOT what Varoufakis said ! He said "Varoufakis Says EU's Actions Bring EU Closer to Disintegration"
Austerity in italy brought: +400 billions of public debt in 7 years, 40% (from 15%) of juvenile unemployments, 5 millions (from 2 millions) of absolute poors, +600.000 illegal economical migrants, 33% of taxes. Actually, if you consider the aggregated debt (public+private), italy is one of the better ones in Europe (better than France and Germany). Italian debt is 70% in italian hands (vs. French one: 30%), and Italy gonna reduce the foreign debt with euro-bonds selling, that will crash EU. Germany/EU is worried because they now they have a 1000 billions credit with the system of Target2 while italy should have a debt of 400 billions instead (cause they are importer, of course), that will be trashed once Quitaly will occur. So the match is about who exits first to gain those hundreds billions. You should add to that the EU common market has been loosing UK as well, and a sudden Quitaly will be followed by sudden exit of Germany or at least of the Visegrad block's country. Spread Btp/Bund is just the fruit of speculation wanted by some of EU members, everyone knows it, but there is an agreement with Italy-US-Japan to cover BTP interests with acquiring national bonds. That's why spread is blocked from 3 days, eventhough all the mess is happening with the new economic reform etc.
Germany won't take any significant actions, their polity is still wrapped up in bizarre OCD humanitarianism same as Sweden, they're stuck back in mental post-adolescance, where are the economics in bringing in a million unskilled migrants & paying for that?, together with blindly barging europe towards federalism. They're not thinking like a proper country does, & until they turf out all that junk & the political operatives that back it they won't alter their collision course.
video to VIEW very interesting analysis. I understand your view on italy is quite optimistic, my only concern is that the reforms which will come from increasing the deficit won't probably improve the economy as they are mainly focused on welfare and pensions. What do you think?
We are going to see the bubble of german derivative securities of Deustche Bank popping first. You won't find any economic book where could be written into that is possible reducing debt with austerity. You can't reduce a debt without increasing firstly the production and putting liquidity into the system. Thanks to European-Italian government we got just spending review that increased actually italian debt by 250 billions euro. Thus, if there is a way to follow, it isn't the European one, and I'm citing Stiglitz, not myself. Furthermore, saying that a debt is a danger is against any economic law, since the first rule of economy is that a public debt is ever safe. It's unsafe when some private agency (S&Poor's, Moody's) who marked as AAA+ Lehman Brothers as solid bank, still have the freedom to label countries as the wind turns. Italy's more solid than France, and its domestic debt, as well as the private in-bank capitals (the 4k Euro per capite higher than german's) are the evidences for it.
I'd say from Naples southward or south of Rome. Rome makes money ... What in the HELL is Sicily doing? What do Sicilians do? Sicily should be part of Spain.
Italy spent billions on euros in the past financing the growth of East Europe. Billions. receving a small portion of that. The Surplus is Massive regarding the other EU countries (only France and Germany did better). Now it is struggling and the solution for the northern Europe and Germany is to punish a founder member? I respect germans but they never lose their sadism. Let's admit it, European Union was a beautiful project but we, italians, are just too different from Danish and Germans. Maybe it was just too early. We were and we will always be a great and prosper country to live in, with or without EU.
Funny a former economic Minister, who personally sealed the deal of the Greek debacle, is ask to comment on a country he knows nothing about and is obviously not informed about the last approved budget? The hipocrisy here is off-the-charts!
So impressive how France and Germany can condemn Greece for financial irresponsibility, when in fact they have given credit irresponsibly to many EU countries for years, and now they ask for austerity. The EU's end is nigh.
Most people forget that the private sector in Italy is not nearly as heavily indebted as the average private sector in the Eurozone. Italy is a lot healthier than it seems.
Fight for what you believe. Italy, unlike Greece has industry and yet she still finds herself in this position. Best of luck to our Italian neighbors and friends, our hearts and thoughts are with you. Greetings from Greece.
4:28 "The establishment's insistence on policies that don't work in Italy are bringing the European Union closer and closer to disintegration." Hey Bloomberg - looks like you got your title the wrong way around!
Varoufakis is not well informed. Italy is actually demanding to discuss the rules with a famous document sent by our EU policy minister to Mr. Juncker. In the meantime we have to support the growth with a finance law that is NOT anyway breaking the rules.
I have stopped believing Yanis after his lectures to UK about remaining in EU despite knowing fully well the arm twisting tactics of EU. But saying so his knowledge on economics is second to none
13 Jun 2018, Joseph E Stiglitz (Nobel laureate in economics, university professor at Columbia University and chief economist at the Roosevelt Institute) wrote: The euro may be approaching another crisis. Italy, the eurozone’s third largest economy, has chosen what can at best be described as a eurosceptic government. This should surprise no one. The backlash in Italy is another predictable (and predicted) episode in the long saga of a poorly designed currency arrangement, in which the dominant power, Germany, impedes the necessary reforms and insists on policies that exacerbate the inherent problems, using rhetoric seemingly intended to inflame passions. Italy has been performing poorly since the euro’s launch. Its real (inflation-adjusted) GDP in 2016 was the same as it was in 2001. But the eurozone as a whole has not been doing well, either. From 2008 to 2016, its real GDP increased by just 3% in total. In 2000, a year after the euro was introduced, the US economy was only 13% larger than the eurozone; by 2016 it was 26% larger. After real growth of around 2.4% in 2017 - not enough to reverse the damage of a decade of malaise - the eurozone economy is faltering again. If one country does poorly, blame the country; if many countries are doing poorly, blame the system. The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe, the euro was a system almost designed to fail. It took away governments’ main adjustment mechanisms (interest and exchange rates); and, rather than creating new institutions to help countries cope with the diverse situations in which they find themselves, it imposed new strictures - often based on discredited economic and political theories - on deficits, debt, and even structural policies. The euro was supposed to bring shared prosperity, which would enhance solidarity and advance the goal of European integration. In fact, it has done just the opposite, slowing growth and sowing discord. The problem is not a shortage of ideas about how to move forward. France’s Emmanuel Macron, in two speeches, at the Sorbonne last September, and when he received the Charlemagne prize for European unity in May, has articulated a clear vision for Europe’s future. But Germany’s Angela Merkel has effectively thrown cold water on his proposals, suggesting, for example, risibly small amounts of money for investment in areas that urgently need it. The urgent need for a common deposit insurance scheme, to prevent runs against banking systems in weak countries. Germany seems to recognise the importance of a banking union for the functioning of a single currency, but, like St Augustine, its response has been, “O Lord, make me pure, but not yet.” Banking union apparently is a reform to be undertaken sometime in the future, never mind how much damage is done in the present. The central problem in a currency area is how to correct exchange-rate misalignments like the one now affecting Italy. Germany’s answer is to put the burden on the weak countries already suffering from high unemployment and low growth rates. We know where this leads: more pain, more suffering, more unemployment, and even slower growth. Even if growth eventually recovers, GDP never reaches the level it would have attained had a more sensible strategy been pursued. The alternative is to shift more of the burden of adjustment on the strong countries, with higher wages and stronger demand supported by government investment programmes. We have seen the first and second acts of this play many times already. A new government is elected, promising to do a better job negotiating with the Germans to end austerity and design a more reasonable structural reform programme. If the Germans budge at all, it is not enough to change the economic course. Anti-German sentiment increases, and any government, whether centre-left or centre-right, that hints at necessary reforms is thrown out of office. Anti-establishment parties gain. Gridlock emerges. Across the eurozone, political leaders are moving into a state of paralysis: citizens want to remain in the EU, but also want an end to austerity and the return of prosperity. They are told they can’t have both. Ever hopeful of a change of heart in northern Europe, troubled governments stay the course, and the suffering of their people increases. António Costa’s socialist-led government in Portugal is the exception to this pattern. Costa managed to lead his country back to growth (2.7% in 2017) and achieve a high degree of popularity (44% of Portuguese thought the government was performing above expectations in April 2018). Italy may prove to be another exception - though in a very different sense. There, anti-euro sentiment is coming from both the left and the right. With his far-right League party now in power, Matteo Salvini, the party’s leader and an experienced politician, might actually carry out the kinds of threats that neophytes elsewhere were afraid to implement. Italy is large enough, with enough good and creative economists, to manage a de facto departure - establishing in effect a flexible dual currency that could help restore prosperity. This would violate euro rules, but the burden of a de jure departure, with all of its consequences, would be shifted to Brussels and Frankfurt, with Italy counting on EU paralysis to prevent the final break. Whatever the outcome, the eurozone will be left in tatters. It doesn’t have to come to this. Germany and other countries in northern Europe can save the euro by showing more humanity and more flexibility. But, having watched the first acts of this play so many times, I am not counting on them to change the plot.
Or it could be that it isn't the problem and the extreme right wing is using anti-immigrant rhetoric to get in power. You know, like all the previous times.
Immigration is a massive political problem everywhere in the Western world. Indeed, it is the only factor which can explain why the League is now at 34% in the polls, getting votes everywhere in the country, even in the deep South.
Varoufakis was briefly the Greek Finance Minister and look at what happened to Greece and the Greek people. He was humiliated by the European Commissioners and disowned by his own party. He has a monumental ego, believes he knows everything but understands nothing. Why put this question to him?
Have someone ever checked the real financial situation of Deutsch bank before to talk about the Italian banks? And why 220 billions euros (85 %of the money given to solve the Greece crisis) have been given to germans and french banks?
The problem that Italy faces is that it is a member of a European Union that cannot work as it is, and cannot be fixed. The EU looks forward to The United States of Europe while it slides back into nationalist divisions. The Chinese wall between democracy and power leaves the democracy inauthentic and the power unauthorised. I don't get Varaufakis. He has an excellent grasp of the political and economic situation but his proposals seem vague and ineffectual. He should know that power is never given but only taken; but then the EU Parliament doesn't seem to know that either. He should take his clue from the EU Central Banker.
5 лет назад
Fuck off you pointless fascist moron. Go lick your Trump poster.
Everyone wants Democracy when they win.Why wouldn't they? It is too late for a second referendum, so the argument is moot. Abolish the house of Lords. Happy now?
I don't understand people who like the EU the way it is. Juncker doesn't. - He wants "ever closer union". Varoufakis doesn't. He wants the Euro to be owned by the EU Central Bank, and for that central bank to be guaranteed by all EU Citizens. Tsipras doesn't. He wants the EU to adopt a more flexible and long sighted economic policy. I could go on, I often do. Macron, Conte, all sorts of people want change. Merkel not so much. So what is you like about the EU? The fact that it exists? Is that all?
Can anyone enlighten me as to why Varoufakis, one time finance minister of fiscal basket case Greece, is treated as some kind of Guru as far as the EU is concerned? He seems to be trapped in a paradox of his own making! He appears to acknowledge the unreformable madness that is the EU “project,” whilst admitting his terminal addiction to it!
Because what he demands from the EU is exactly what we demand of our national democratically-elected governments: more democracy, more transparency, more accountability. He put the issue of entering and exiting the EU this way: "Imagine you decide to walk into a marshland. Getting in was a mistake, and now that you are in quicksand, the way in is no longer available to use in order to get out." Entering the EU might be made easy because exiting the EU is by absolutely no means painless or simple, as the British will find out in a couple of weeks.
You should look up his explanation on the matter. He is no fan of the EU, but he is definitely against the resuting economic hardship and Reich wing fanaticism which will take over if/when the EU collapses.
ComplexityScience,, don't you mean leg end ? He hasn't even got a job at present. He's a little bit like David Cameron, just walk away when the going gets tough !!
Get along with each other Europeans and behave like sane humans. Otherwise fanaticism and racism will annihilate you. You just got out of WW1&2. Lear, stick together and grow up. Give the world hope. A sustainable model of tolerance, diversity and success.
Europeans aren't the problem. The people of Europe do get along nicely thank you. We live, work and holiday in each other's countries without any problems of note. We enjoy visiting each other's countries for holidays and experiencing the differences in food, culture, history and architecture. The problem is the hideous overbearing disaster of a political system called the EU. Its failed. Its massively expensive, massively beurocratic, painfully slow to make any decision and its policies around the Euro punishes poorer states and causes poverty. It needs to go (as does the Euro) and be replaced by a simple free trade and product regulation area.
Italy is a PAYER to the EU, it means it gives to the EU far more billions of euros than it gets back, and it is historically very weak politically. This is why the EU doesn't want to let it go. EU is historically, politically and socially speaking a monster which we are forcing ourselves to be in need of. Also, Varoufakis is a left-wing politician, always keep in mind this when he speaks about the current Italian gov.
In most of the points I agreed with Mr Varoufakis, the leading in Germany is actual to weak. But if we will get a strong lead, will be this the leading we wish? The Euopean idea is a good idea, but the EUR has to be redisigned. Best regards Leonardo
Varoufakis was the finance guy from Greece, right?? That country that's completely fekked ecomonically? Yes, let's take this persons advice on anything lol
@@fugoff8588 He had several plans to "fix it" but Tsipras didn´t want that and instead bowed to the Troika and accepted their demands. Varoufakis left saying he could not in good conscience ruin Greece with this deal. Refusing to ruin Greece and leaving his post as finance minister = Creating the crisis from decades before. Honestly.. why do I bother...
One of the most dangerous economist/illusionist in the world. Great representative of the Greek mentality, saying "great" words without any idea of how to apply them. I am Greek and this guy has brought my country's economy from the growth to depression
Εσύ τα βλέπεις με κλειστά τα μάτια. Έτσι ήταν η οικονομία της χώρας πριν αναλάβει αυτό το ιδεοληπτικό μόρφωμα τη διακυβέρνηση της χώρας ; Πραγματικά ανά μετά από όλα αυτά που έχει κάνει ο ΣΥΡΙΖΑ υπάρχουν πολίτες που εξακολουθούν να πιστεύουν στην ηλίθια ατάκα "και οι άλλοι τα ίδια έκαναν" δεν έχω να πω κάτι. Προφανώς να φανταστώ είσαι κι εσύ από αυτούς που δεν ψήφισαν Τσίπρα ποτέ αλλά πώς στο διάλο πήρε 3 εκλογικές αναμετρήσεις δεν ξέρω.
stop stealing money ("taxes"). or, at least, re-apply the money to those issues and policies that truly serve the interests of the average people. and return to genuine patriotism as a guiding principle in European politics.
Varoufakis, Italy is not adopting the previous Government's stance. The Italians know too well how the EU works and what makes the ball stay in play there. Next year will be see the biggest change in the EU since it was established and there will no longer be the same people holding the power. The Italian gov't. knows that and so does Bruxelles. A war with the current establishment would be counterproductive for all, including investors in Italian debt. Better wait 6 months and let the system work itself out.
katty newman flashback. Listen to what he says 4:28. "The establishment (EU) insistence on policies that don't work in Italy are bringing the EU closer to disentegration."
All ok in theory for Italy to ask to change the rules but the EU has the habit of insisting they not be broken however stupid or unworkable they are , as Britain is learning in their own Brexit negotiations. How does one convene a European summit when, as Yanis says Europe is without a leader as long as Germany has a lame duck government?
And BTW... Minister Savona wrote a document addressed to the EU commission telling exactly about the need of change of rules as Varoufakis suggest... maybe this interview hasn't gone unnoticed
It was France's condition for agreeing to German reunification that Germany give up its own currency. Germany had no choice but to give up its currency if it wanted to regain full sovereignty. That Germany would benefit so much from the euro was not clear to anyone at the time.
He is right when he says that the common currency without central fiscal union is a nonsense, and the EU zealots were warned of this in the early 90s by John Major and the British treasury department. The EU zealots knew however that if they proposed a centralised fiscal union with a central treasury department based no doubt in Frankfurt, the peoples of various EU member states would have rejected it, so in their arrogance they decided to launch the common currency anyway and said membership was based on adherence to specific rules on debt etc. France was the first country to break those rules. The Euro was a disaster waiting to happen and a whole generation of young people in Spain, and savers in Cyprus and many other countries are paying the price.
Renzi ? He is old history, thank God. In Di Maio we have finally an honest politician to improve things dramatically. Salvini is also good to police our borders and the state. 2020 Italy budget will relax EU fears but right now the economy needs a push, not cuts.
The question, even before Britex, is remain, leave or fix it. The real answer is to fix it but that has been filed under the 'too hard' pile by Germany and Brussels. Even now the EU's Britex strategy is to punish Britain for leaving rather than workout a reasonable solution to a mutual problem, and this strategy is aimed at the other disgruntled EU members rather than at Britain or the Britex issue..
The EU should have stayed a free trade area with common product regulations. It should have never tried to integrate further. Trying to force different countries with different economies to have the same currency without every country having the same tax system, a central EU budget and wage levels CAN NEVER AND WILL NEVER WORK. Since almost no-one (apart from the EU itself) wants that, then all countries should revert back to their own currencies. Its really that simple.
You have to get back to the concept that the institutions who lends the money have a duty to ensure that there is a good possibility that the money will be paid back. If you have lent recklessly you loose your money. The problem with democracy is people don't vote for governments that offer austerity they vote for governments that proclaim that they will spend money on them. They only suffer austerity when reckless governments have overspent and the money supply from the lender stops but this is often to late. Don't forget you would never get a turkey to vote for Christmas.
People need to realise that the union has provided a lot of us stability here within europe, think back to a time pre ww2 when countries continously fought against each other and always had a risk of invasion from a neighbour. The austerity placed on Greece and Ireland among other countries were all due to their own mishandling and mismanagement of their own finances. If the E.U breaks up it may feel good initially to be free but after a while you will feel being "free" isnt what you had expected. The basis of the E.U was to work together be better together and I believe in the project. Sure, being a part of the "club" may result in contributing slightly more than actually receiving but the benefits long term are outweigh the contrary. This is coming from someone living in Ireland, a country who has dealt with austerity imposed by Brussels, do I blame Brussels for our financial difficulties? Not one bit it was our own reckless behaviour.
You don't need to worry about Italy, Yanis. Italy can handle itself and the economy quite comfortably. After the US, Italy has the greatest level of debt in the world but they can manage that without being too pompous and technical about it. Italy will still be around long after we are all dead and buried
