Yanis Varoufakis

Yanis Varoufakis (Greek: Ιωάννης "Γιάνης" Βαρουφάκης,pronounced [ˈʝanis varuˈfacis]; born 24 March 1961) is an academic economist who was a member of the Greek parliament between January and September 2015. He represented the ruling Syriza party and held the position of Minister of Finance for seven months. He voted against the terms of the third bailout package for Greece. In December 2015 he announced plans to launch a pan-European movement the following February.

Varoufakis is a participant in the current debates on the global and European crisis, the author of The Global Minotaur and several academic texts on economics and game theory, Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Athens and a private consultant for Valve Corporation. He is a dual Greek-Australian citizen and describes himself as a 'libertarian Marxist': "In truth, Karl Marx was responsible for framing my perspective of the world we live in, from my childhood to this day. It is not something that I volunteer to talk about in 'polite society' much these days because the very mention of the M-word switches audiences off."