And The Weak Suffer What They Must? by Yanis Varoufakis
Bodley Head, £16.99
As well as being a Marxist, former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is political Marmite. The notoriously glamorous feature he gave Paris Match when he was master of an effectively bankrupt nation destroyed much of his credibility at home and abroad. He has since said he regrets the incident, but like many a technocrat he failed to realise that politics is mainly about perception.
Photos of him sitting in not particularly splendid isolation before a Eurogroup meeting may have impressed supporters of the left-wing Syriza government that he represented. To outsiders, such a Billy no-mates was hardly in a position to negotiate successfully. Not that negotiation was ever really on the cards. Eurozone politicians and officials were sick of Greece’s reluctance to apply adequate austerity measures, while the Syriza government, led by Alexis Tsipras, felt that the country was the scapegoat for failed institutions – public and private – and inadequate EU leadership.
Varoufakis refers to his brief time in government in the awkwardly titled And The Weak Must Suffer What They Must? but only in passing – a separate book on his experiences is promised. His title refers to an infamous episode in Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War, when the arrogant Athenians denied that the Melians had equal rights because the larger state was stronger.
Varoufakis makes good use of ancient Greek sources, including Aesop and Sophocles. It is a surprise that Aristophanes does not appear, such is the shaven-headed, leather jacket-wearing professor’s open disdain for Europe’s leaders and officials. Jean-Claude Trichet, former president of the European Central Bank, is described as “arguably the world’s worst central banker”.
Surprisingly, Varoufakis admits to a personal friendship with Lord (Norman) Lamont and records his admiration for Margaret Thatcher, who, he says, understood that European financial union would inevitably lead to federalisation. The chaotic state of the euro in recent years has proved that Mrs Thatcher was wrong. A fully federal Europe is now as likely as the Bundesbank paying attention to François Hollande. Then again, the UK, still worried at least in parts of England by a perceived loss of sovereignty, is about to hold a referendum on EU membership. For all his criticism, Varoufakis is still a committed European.
He is quite rightly enraged by the lack of democratic accountability in European institutions, particularly those that attempt to manage the euro. Although the monthly Eurogroup meeting is attended by finance ministers who have been democratically elected, their discussions are held behind closed doors and the decision-making process is opaque.
This is highly significant when a country in serious financial trouble, such as Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain or Italy, is in effect told what to do by ministers from other countries – especially when what they are told to do brings undeserved misery to its citizens, often those least able to cope.
Varoufakis provides a clear account of European economic affairs from Bretton Woods, via the Nixon shock of 1971 (when the US president ended the international convertibility of the dollar to gold), to the founding and ignominious progress of the euro, with its “faulty architecture”. No dry exponent of the dismal science, he is a gripping and imaginative writer.
Broken up into easily digested sections, And The Weak Suffer What They Must? is undoubtedly a success. Coruscating, combative and – with an appendix of rather utopian suggestions titled “A Modest Proposal” – close to the bone, the book proves that Yanis Varoufakis’s star is still in the ascendant.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.