Interview of the General Secretary of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas in "Kontra News" newspaper

Dimitris Koutsoumbas, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), gave an interview in the Sunday edition (14 March 2021) of "Kontra News" newspaper. 

The communist leader refers to the current political situation in Greece, the policy of New Democracy (ND) government during the Pandemic, Greece's Left political forces and the stance of the KKE. 

 Below, you can read a translated version of the interview:

Dimitris Koutsoumbas' interview on ANT1 News: On Turkey, Varoufakis and the July 7th elections

On Friday afternoon, the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas gave an interview to anchor Nikos Chatzinikolaou and the news program of ANT1 TV. 

The General Secretary pointed out the need for the strengthening of the KKE in the upcoming general elections of July 7th, saying that the Communist Party is the only one that can prevent anti-people measures. He stated that the Party has immediate law proposals for the relief of the unemployed people, for lower salary at 751 euros, for the Social Insurance System and other issues related to the country's popular strata. 

The phony radicalism of Yanis Varoufakis and his MERA25 party

By Nikos Mottas.

The former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is back and ready to participate in Greece's general elections on July 7th. Once again, the flamboyant economist tries to present himself as a "radical", "pro-european leftist" and an anti-establishment political force, aiming to attract voters who have been dissapointed by the anti-people policy of SYRIZA. 

First of all, Varoufakis tries to obfuscate the reality about his past as a member of the Tsipras' government. He denounces the pro-memorandum, pro-austerity stance of SYRIZA but he doesn't say a word about his own contribution to this policy. Why? The answer is clear and straightforward: Varoufakis had been an accomplice in the preparation and voting, by the SYRIZA government, of the 3rd memorandum in 2015.

Yes Man: Eurogroup's Dijsselbloem admits that "with Tsipras almost everything has been easier"

"Feel like home". PM Tsipras welcomes Jeroen Dijssebloem.

The outgoing Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem admitted something that everybody knew: The fact that the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government of Alexis Tsipras was easily submitted to the demands of the creditors thus doing the "dirty job" on behalf of the capital by imposing new harsh antipeople-antiworkers' measures.

In an interview with the "Financial Times" on Friday, the former Dutch finance minister talked about the shambolic negotiations with the Tsipras government in the first half of 2016, as well as his tenuous relations with Yanis Varoufakis, then Greece's finance minister, generated immediate reverberations in Athens.

Tsipras-Varoufakis: Loyal servants of the capitalist system

By Nikos Mottas*. 

During the last few days we are witnessing a highly hypocritical “blame game” between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. In his latest book titled “Adults in the room”, Varoufakis tries to present himself as a “fighter” who resisted Europe's “deep establishment”.

In his “political thriller”, the ex-finance minister describes how the Tsipras government handled the negotiations with its creditors, outlining the role each government official played during that period. As for his former collaborator, Varoufakis writes among other things: “Alexis Tsipras appears totally overwhelmed, unable to collide with his own consultants who were pro loan agreement, in some cases he was totally manipulated by the ‘internal’ and ‘external’ Troika”.

The Varoufakis Illusion- An "erratic Marxist" at the service of Capitalism

By Nikos Mottas.

Last April, the former Finance Minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis was among those who addressed one of "Nuit Debout" movement's rallies in Paris. Expressing his solidarity, Varoufakis compared the french "Nuit Debout" with the 2011 Greek movement of indignant citizens: "It was an earthquake. We changed the policy in Greece, but also in Europe" he said. Of course, that was another example of bombastic nonsense by the former Minister. 

Varoufakis and his former political alter ego, Alexis Tsipras, didn't change anything, neither in Greece nor in Europe. The coalition government of SYRIZA-ANEL, which came to power on January 2015, continued on the steps of the previous governments; they served the aim of Greek capitalism's recovery and they continue doing so. Mr.Varoufakis- who since then has been an international 'celebrity' by presenting himself as a 'guru' of economics- never disagreed on the fundamental policy of the SYRIZA government. As we wrote in a previous article ("The simple truth about Varoufakis and his DiEM25 party"), Mr.Varoufakis had agreed on the 67% of the austerity reforms, according to his own words in a Berlin press conference, on February 2015. 

The simple truth about Yanis Varoufakis and his DiEM25 party

By Nikos Mottas/ In Defense of Communism.

On February 8th, in Berlin, the former Finance Minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis presented the 'manifesto' of his new pan-european party called "Democracy in Europe Movement 2015" (DiEM25). Having as a major slogan "transparency in Europe", the DiEM25 manifesto was stating among other things: 

"The European Union was an exceptional achievement, bringing together in peace European peoples speaking different languages, submersed in different cultures, proving that it was possible to create a shared framework of human rights across a continent that was, not long ago, home to murderous chauvinism, racism and barbarity. [...] Alas, today, a common bureaucracy and a common currency divide European peoples that were beginning to unite despite our different languages and cultures. A confederacy of myopic politicians, economically naïve officials and financially incompetent ‘experts’ submit slavishly to the edicts of financial and industrial conglomerates, alienating Europeans and stirring up a dangerous anti-European backlash. Proud peoples are being turned against each other. Nationalism, extremism and racism are being re-awakened. [...] At the heart of our disintegrating EU there lies a guilty deceit: A highly political, top-down, opaque decision-making process is presented as ‘apolitical’, ‘technical’, ‘procedural’ and ‘neutral’. Its purpose is to prevent Europeans from exercising democratic control over their money, finance, working conditions and environment. The price of this deceit is not merely the end of democracy but also poor economic policies".