BERLIN: At the height of the Greek debt crisis, he crossed swords with German nemesis Wolfgang Schaeuble, who demanded drastic austerity in return for financial aid.
Now he leads the list of Democracy in Europe, a German political party that is part of DiEM25, the anti-establishment movement Varoufakis helped to launch in early 2016. His new grouping is"the first serious transnational and progressive movement" in Europe, argues Varoufakis, who has outlined its vision in a handful of interviews, public meetings and short videos on social networks.
"As a convinced European, I protest against what the European institutions are doing," he has told Deutsche Welle TV, pointing to the rise of far-right parties and raising the spectre of the 1930s. Another consideration may be more pragmatic: Germany's rules for the European election do not have a minimum threshold, heightening chances for a party that is polling at around one percent.
In other EU countries, including Greece, the threshold is 3 per cent - a more daunting hurdle for Varoufakis, whose political star has dimmed in the years since he quit his ministerial post with a simple tweet.