An “investment fund”, with possible financing by the EIB in the form of 500 million euros worth of issued bonds per annum for four years, is Yanis Varoufakis’ proposal for combating Europe’s ongoing energy crisis.
The maverick one-time Greek finance minister during the height of the economic crisis era in 2015, made the proposal at the inaugural OT Forum on Tuesday, taking place at the historic old Athens Stock Exchange.
Varoufakis is the founder and secretary of the radical leftist Mera25 party, which managed to enter Greece’s Parliament in 2019 by a slim margin.
In fielding questions during Forum, Varoufakis said such a Europe-wide fund would also greatly aid the bloc’s “green transition.”
In explaining his proposal, he said the ECB would have to essentially guarantee such bond issues by signalling to markets that it will buy these bonds.
In a more detailed position, he also said he favors an increase in interest rates, in tandem with a continuation of the European Central Bank’s QE program.
Turning to domestic affairs, Varoufakis bemoaned what he called the high inflation rate now bedeviling Greece, forecasting a new wave of closures by SMEs over the next two months.
He added that the current phenomenon is an “asymmetrical inflation rate”, as he called it, affecting some businesses more than others, with dominant market players benefiting.
Varoufakis also took another swipe at the center-right Mitsotakis government, speaking hours before Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis sat in the same seat, blaming the latter for allowing “profiteering” by power companies. He claimed that the dominant Public Power Corp. (PPC), the previous state monopoly in Greece, and other electricity providers are reaping “unimaginable profits” are that not being taxed
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