In an interview, Yanis Varoufakis painted a bleak picture of Germany and the European Union. The former Greek finance minister did not take kindly to Chancellor Olaf Scholz. It was also about the controversial plans in the port of Hamburg.
The former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is also concerned with the Chancellor’s controversial plans to sell shares in the Port of Hamburg to the Chinese shipping company Cosco.
He believes the situation is not black or white. One problem: “The German business model is based, at least to a third, on the sale of products to China,” Varoufakis said in an interview with “ntv”. He complains that “Berlin is obviously turning a blind eye – just like with Russian gas” and “just carrying on as before”.
In this context, the former finance minister of Greece speaks of a “new cold war between the USA and China, which will be catastrophic for the world”. Then he also talks about the current problem between China and Germany.
“As for Scholz and the port: If Scholz were to play the part of a mediator between Washington, Beijing and Berlin and the sale to Cosco was part of this peace process, then I would welcome that,” Varoufakis told ntv. But: “I think that Olaf Scholz is a political dwarf who doesn’t have the capacity to think like that at all.”
From his point of view, a sale to Cosco would not be seen as a political dodge. “Selling to Cosco would not be a strategy to make the world more stable, but ultimately just another case of short-sightedness,” Varoufakis said.
In general, Varoufakis sees Germany’s economic model as a failure. “The German model was based on cheap energy from Russia, the sale of products to China and low wages within Germany,” he explains, comparing the current situation. “Inflation has made it impossible to keep wages down, gas has become expensive and China is disappearing as a market for Germany.”
The only thing that has remained the same in Germany is “the constant insistence of the current German federal government – and previous governments – on unilateral action and thus the support of the fiscal strategy to achieve an export surplus – essentially neo-mercantilism.” Measures. “Germany disregards competitive equality within the European Union.”
The ex-Greek minister is not surprised that there is criticism of Germany’s €200 billion relief package. “It’s a double standard. Germany insists on a single market and supposedly level playing field, while at the same time pushing through state aid for its industry and consumers.” The rest of the EU could not introduce such state aid, “due to the fiscal policy rules that apply to everyone except Germany”.
