 | ||
The Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, or DiEM25, is a Pan-European political movement launched in 2015 by former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. The movement was officially presented at a ceremonial event held on 9 February 2016 in the Volksbühne theatre in Berlin and on the 23rd March in Rome. Their movement aims to reform the European Union's existing institutions to create a "full-fledged democracy with a sovereign Parliament respecting national self-determination and sharing power with national Parliaments, regional assemblies and municipal councils".
Contents
Agenda
The movement's declared aim is to reinvigorate the idea of Europe as a union of people governed with democratic consent rather than what the movement fears the European Union is heading to: a superstate ruled by technocrats issuing edicts. In support of this argument they mention eight distinct aspects where governance is by compulsion rather than consent. First among these is "hit-squad inspectorates and the Troika they formed together with unelected ‘technocrats’ from other international and European institutions". The organization cites the emerging extremist nationalism of some new political parties as well as the so-called Brexit and Grexit state departure initiatives as evidence of this impending European fracture.
In a video statement Varoufakis gave to El País during his visit to Madrid this claim was repeated, citing the Brexit special concessions granted by the EU to the UK in February 2016 as evidence of this disintegration.
Coordination
DiEM25 is led by a Coordinating Collective composed of 12 individuals and overseen by an Advisory Board of well known personalities.