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      Varoufakis-Euro-Crisis.mp4    1.2G  MPEG4 Video
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Yanis Varoufakis - The Euro Crisis: How Austerity Divides Europe

Almost ten years ago, the euro crisis gripped the monetary union and dominated global media for a long time. In Germany, the discussion focused on bankruptcy in Greece and the fledgling economic situation in other southern European states. The euro crisis in Germany was reinterpreted as the "Greek crisis" and thus created the impression that the financial and economic situation had primarily arisen as a result of corruption and nepotism. "Sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks,“ demanded back-bencher politicians in the Bild columns. Even the Greek media provoked the public, displaying Angela Merkel and the Victory Column with photoshopped swastikas.

How did this extreme division of Europe come to be? Almost ten years after the beginning of the crisis and right before the European elections (23-26 May), we want to give it another look. What were the causes? Has the euro crisis been overcome for good? What effects did austerity politics have on the population? What is the future of the Euro, and of the EU?

Our guest is Yanis Varoufakis, economist and former Greek finance minister. During his time at the helm of Greece’s economy, he attempted to renegotiate his country's relationship with EU institutions. He was seen as the harshest critic of the Troika's austerity politics, thus putting the political and media establishment in a rage, and making him one of Greece’s best-known ex-finance ministers.
His political work did not end there: he co-founded the DiEM25 movement in 2016, for which he will be the top candidate in this year's European elections.

The event took place on Saturday, May 11th, at 7 p.m. in the University of Cologne (Hörsaal A1, Hörsaalgebäude) in English.