The authoritarianism of the establishment has met that of the far-right in Italy, Yanis Varoufakis told EURACTIV in an interview. The minister founded Mera25 in Italy last weekend, to run for the next European elections in 2024 and challenge what he sees as “two authoritarianisms”.
Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister and now leader of the Mera25 party, identifies the first authoritarianism as the technocratic agenda of former prime minister Mario Draghi and governments that have continued to push austerity policies over the past decade.
The second is that of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her deputy, Lega leader, Matteo Salvini.
“The authoritarianism of the Troika policies produced a political reaction at the time,” said Varoufakis, pointing to “the creation of a new far-right wing opposition represented before by Matteo Salvini and after by Giorgia Meloni,” forces that Varoufakis described as “racist” and “neo-fascist”.
Because of their opposition to austerity, the far-right leaders were perceived as anti-establishment, he said.
“Then these forces were absorbed by the establishment, with a gradual process of transformation,” he said, and eventually “Meloni’s victory [becomes] great news for the establishment”, instead of a dangerous moment.
Varoufakis sees Mera25 in Italy as a means to fill the political vacuum left by the progressive forces in Italy, which “lack a political plan”.
A transformed party
“Giorgia Meloni passed from proposing Italexit to adopting Mario Draghi’s agenda. A prerequisite to be elected Prime Minister,” Varoufakis said, pointing to her Fratelli d’Italia party’s rapid ascent from the fringes of opposition to the government.
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Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia party contributed to “Meloni’s party normalisation and absorption within the establishment,” he added.
The critique is similar to that used by the Socialist and Democrat group in the European Parliament, which has accused the European People’s Party (EPP), of which Berlusconi’s Forza Italia is a member, of being responsible for the normalisation of the far right in different countries, including Italy and Sweden.
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The Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament accused the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Renew group of contributing to the normalisation of the extreme right and links with Russia.
Varoufakis said that a similar scenario played out in Greece, where “my former comrade” Alexis Tsipras “was absorbed by the establishment”.
As the finance minister in the left-wing Syriza government in Athens, Varoufakis emerged as one of the main politicians opposed to the “anti-European troika and its latest austerity program,” he said.
Varoufakis campaigned Prime Minister Tsipras for the ‘no’ vote at the 2015 July referendum on the plan the EU and the International Monetary Fund proposed to Greece in return for a loan program.
However, after Tsipras backtracked and accepted the implementation of the plan, Varoufakis resigned.
‘We are humanists’
On migration policy, the Greek politician said that Mera25 supports the respect of international law and distanced himself from the Meloni government’s actions of blocking NGO boats in the Mediterranean Sea from disembarking last week.
“We have an unpopular position these days, we are humanists,” he said, affirming that the EU “is committing on a daily basis crime against humanity” regarding migration, and moving towards becoming “Fortress Europe”.
“Such a Europe can never treat Europeans well. Because the worst aspect of racism is that when you are discriminating and brutal to the foreigner, you end up being discriminating and brutal to your own people,” the Mera25 leader said.
On the contrary, Varoufakis said that his party would make a positive case for migration to Europe.
“We need a political party like ours, that has the courage to look at Europeans in the eye and say to them, we are hypocrites,” he said.
“Germany needs 490,000 migrants every year, in order to keep the labour force steady. It limits even more. So, what we do need above all else is not an Italian policy, not a German policy, but a pan-European policy for welcoming migrants and refugees,” he said.
[Edited by Benjamin Fox]
Source: euractiv.com
