DiEM25
 DiEM25       | |
|---|---|
 Yanis Varoufakis (left) looks on as Julian Assange speaks via a live broadcast at the official launch of DiEM25 | |
| Founder | • Yanis Varoufakis • Srećko Horvat |
The Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, or DiEM25, is a pan-European political movement founded in 2016 by a group of Europeans, including former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and Croatian philosopher Srećko Horvat and was officially launched at ceremonial events on 9 February 2016 in the Volksbühne theatre in Berlin and on 23 March 2016 in Rome.[1]
DiEM25's launch in Berlin featured speeches from Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, British Green MP Caroline Lucas, representatives of Germany’s Blockupy movement, as well as musician Brian Eno, philosopher Slavoj Žižek and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Yanis Varoufakis said the DiEM25 group would lobby for more transparent processes in European decision-making, including live-streaming of council meetings and full disclosure of trade negotiation documents:
“Our medium-term goal is to convene a constitutional assembly where Europeans will deliberate on how to bring forth, by 2025, a full-fledged European democracy, featuring a sovereign parliament that respects national self-determination and shares power with national parliaments, regional assemblies and municipal councils. “One simple, radical idea is our motivating force: to democratise Europe in the knowledge that the EU will either be democratised or it will disintegrate at a terrible cost to all.”
Asked what made him feel sure that DiEM25 could succeed where other movements had not, Varoufakis replied:
“Absolutely nothing. But it’s the only way I can wake up in the morning and feel energised.”[2]
The acronym DiEM alludes to the Latin phrase carpe diem. To highlight the urgency of democratising Europe before reaching a point of no return, DiEM25 sets the horizon for the year 2025 to draft a democratic constitution that will replace all the European treaties that are in force today.
Five years after its foundation, the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 declared that it has over 117000 members in more than 195 countries and territories.[3]
References
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