Whether one considers oneself a leftist, a social democrat, a neoliberal, a rightist, one will certainly have some figures in the political scene in Greece who will be much liked or hated. Without necessarily sympathy or disgust with the political position.
Ο Giannis Varoufakis (he wants his first name to be spelled "Yanis"), we could say that he has sworn enemies but also people who thought he would give another color to new Parliament. Certainly a person "love it or hate it" like him does not go unnoticed.
After all, in the ten years or so that he has been in our daily lives, either as a guest financial analyst / commentator on TV shows, or as a minister / MP, or as a writer, he has managed to put him in a difficult position. former President of the Eurogroup and to make the former prime minister and former (now) friend of Alexis Tsipras "regret that he trusted him".
Born in 1961 Giannis Varoufakis began to gain a foothold in the general public through his television appearances in political shows, making analyzes of the economic conditions that the country was experiencing after entering the memorandum supervision in 2010. He grew up in Paleo Faliro, near the sea. In contrast, with some of his then associates in the SYRIZA government, he did not grow up dreaming of changing the world through political ideologies, nor did he frequent party youth offices. It belonged to those who wanted to change the world with music.
As a teenager, he had long hair and was a rocker, a band member who once supported the Socrates.
Jokingly, we could say that he owes a lot to George Papadakis as Varoufakis He had a prominent position in the panels of Kalimera Greece before the elections of January 2015. His televised quarrel with the politician with ND, Argyris Dinopoulos, remains impressive even now.
In a fast forward of the public life of Giannis Varoufakis, he also stands out the apology addressed to him in June 2019 by George Papadakis live on his show for previous management that Kalimera Greece had done in an interview with the Secretary General of MERA25.
However, apart from his favorite ANT1, Varoufakis also became known for his promoted positions in the Greek financial staus quo in terms of budget. But also for the style and fighting spirit that supported his positions. He has also described himself as a "liberal communist".
Ο Varoufakis He is a professor of Economic Theory at the Department of Economics of the University of Athens, where he was Director of the Department of Political Economy of the same Department as well as Director of the Doctoral Program in Economics. He is also an Honorary Professor of Comparative Law, Economics and Finance at the International University College of the University of Turin.
In November 2014, Giannis Varoufakis presented to SYRIZA leaders Alexis Tsipras, Nikos Pappas and Giannis Dragasakis a plan for a parallel payment system through Taxisnet, aimed at keeping Greece in the Eurozone in the event of a power outage liquidity by the European Central Bank.
In the elections of January 2015, he ran with SYRIZA in B 'Athens and was elected MP after receiving over 135.000 crosses.
On January 27, he was sworn in as the most important minister of the Greek government. That of Finance. His term was short-lived as on July 6, 2015, the day after the referendum, he resigned. His relationship with Alexis Tsipras and his ex-partners had completely broken down.
Giannis Varoufakis always lived with his contradictions. Professor and revolutionary together, liberal and communist. In fact, the media liked to deal with him a lot because of the appearances he chose. Shaved head, casual outfit and shirt loose outside the pants. He had not shown any interest in them.
Over time, however, many accused him of arrogance and bigotry. The photo shoot with his visual artist, Danae Stratou, in the French magazine Paris Match did not help to appease those who attributed beauty and arrogance to him. For the specific photo shoot, a short time later, he had said that "I wish this photo had not been taken, I regret it. I do not like the aesthetics of these photos. The text that accompanied it was good and did very well for Greece in France ".
However, those who did not take kindly to his appearance and attitude were the European partners. Much has been heard about his talks with then-German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schieble. The information coming from Brussels said that Varoufakis had reached the hands of his counterparts. He had replied that "sometimes there are tensions. Its technical scales Eurogroup they have what I call a "natural institutional inaction". There is no institution that likes to change. I have the greatest respect for Mr Schieble. "Our conversations have always been enjoyable and civilized."
However, Varoufakis's stand with the president of the Eurogroup, Geroun Dasselblum, has remained historic after the end of a press conference on 30/1/2015 and after the statement of the then Ministry of Finance: logic of implementing a program that we consider to be anti-European. "We are not going to cooperate with such a loosely structured committee."
Dasselblum grimaced and said to Varoufakis: "You just killed the Troika».
Giannis Varoufakis in his peculiar way had managed to irritate many of his political opponents. A few months later his political friends.
The ministerial life of Giannis Varoufakis was as interesting as his departure from the government. After the "No" vote prevailed in the referendum, he resigned with a lengthy announcement on his personal page. Among other things, he accused Alexis Tsipras of his stance after the referendum.
From 2015 to 2019 4 years passed. The "compliments" he has exchanged with former government officials and Alexis Tsipras himself are many. His aversion was characteristic Stelios Kouloglou in a TV show that "Varoufakis was the spy in the room". The report probably had to do with Mr. Varoufakis' admission that he was recording the Eurogroup as he commented "I made this decision after the first meeting that took place, which lasted ten hours and immediately after he learned that no minutes are kept".
Their relationship with Alexis Tsipras went through various ups and downs. In 2016, Varoufakis said that "I am the last person who will turn against a partner like Alexis Tsipras and will malign him. We have very serious differences. We live in difficult times, I stick to my positions, but I will not disapprove or use descriptions for friends and comrades, even if our paths have parted and we are no longer comrades ".
The former prime minister in an interview with SKAI said that he made a mistake by entrusting the negotiation to Varoufakis. A day later, in a television interview, Varoufakis replied: "I also made the wrong choice by trusting Mr. Tsipras.
Despite this intense four years, however Giannis Varoufakis after his entry in the new Parliament, after winning 3,44% in the national elections of July 7, is considered one (if not the only) surviving politician of all those who collaborated with Alexis Tsipras and SYRIZA.
On February 9, 2016, in collaboration with the Croatian philosopher Srećko Horvat, he founded the pan-European movement for the democratization of Europe DiEM25, in Berlin. On March 26, 2018, Giannis Varoufakis establishes the electoral arm of DiEM25 in Greece, the Front of European Realistic Disobedience - DAY25.
The Bloomberg article the day after the election is indicative of the reception prepared for him by the media and his political opponents: "Remember the Greek finance minister with the leather and the machine, who repeatedly clashed with his hard-core German counterpart over the impasse the third memorandum? Well, your mind, Giannis Varoufakis is back in the game, officially ".