Democracy in Europe Movement 2025

DiEM25 argues that the people of Europe need to seize the opportunity to create political organisations at a pan-European level. Its participants consider that the model of national parties forming fragile alliances in the European Parliament is obsolete and that a pan-European movement is necessary to confront the great economic, political and social crises in Europe today. In its analysis, the movement considers that these crises threaten to disintegrate Europe, and which possess characteristics that are similar to those of the Great Depression of the 1930s.^[14]

DiEM25 would like to act as an umbrella organization, gathering left-wing parties, grassroots protest movements and "rebel regions" to develop a common response to the five crises Europe faces today, namely debt, banking, poverty, low investment and migration.

DiEM25 seeks to avert European fracture. In the lead up to the Brexit referendum, DiEM25 co-founder Yanis Varoufakis worked with British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to support Great Britain's stay in the European Union. Varoufakis cited the special concessions^[15] granted by the European Union to the United Kingdom in February 2016 as evidence of European disintegration.^[16] After the Leave victory in the Brexit referendum DiEM25 members decided to support the triggering of article 50^[17] on the condition that the UK would exit the EU under a Norway+ agreement, preserving freedom of movement and access to the single market. In light of the UK government's refusal to negotiate such an agreement, in October 2018 DiEM25 members voted^[18] to launch a campaign, "Take a Break from Brexit", calling for an extension of the negotiations period, under article 50 provisions. However, in defiance of the official stance of the movement^[19] and of his own previously stated opinion^[20] Varoufakis publicly opposed the extension^[21] and in May 2020, a few months after the defeat of Jeremy Corbyn, declared his support for a no deal Brexit at the end of the transition phase.^[22]

DiEM25 has four constituent parts, namely a Coordinating Collective (CC), a Validation Council (VC), DiEM25 Spontaneous Collectives (DSCs) and an advisory board. To raise money, DiEM25 uses crowdfunding.^[23]

The Coordinating Collective has twelve members who meet weekly to lead DiEM25's actions. DiEM25 schedules an electronic vote every six months to permit all DiEM25 members to renew half of the CC's seats. Coordinating Collective members cannot simultaneously belong to another political party, or be ministers or parliamentarians still in office.^[24]

The Validation Council has 100 participants who monitor DiEM25 members’ good conduct, make decisions when urgency and time do not permit a membership digital referendum and validate the Coordinating Collective's proposals. Any DiEM25 member can apply to join the VC; DiEM25 selects Validation Council seats by drawing lots. Like the Coordinating Collective vote, DiEM25 schedules a selection for half of the VC's seats every six months.^[25]

DiEM25 Spontaneous Collectives self-organize to forward DiEM's goals. DSCs form based on affinity and municipal, regional or national location, meeting face-to-face or online.^[26]

The advisory board advises DiEM25. The Coordinating Collective and the Validation Council jointly elect advisors based on their recognized achievements and expertise in their fields (artistic, political and academic, among others).^[27]

One year after its foundation, DiEM25 declared that it had 60,000 members from across the European Union. ^{[citation needed]}

Coordinating Collective

2016	Agnieszka Wiśniewska	Brian Eno	Cristina Soler-Savini	Elif Shafak	Igor Stokfiszewski	Lorenzo Marsili	Noam Chomsky	Srećko Horvat	Thomas Seibert	Vivienne Westwood	Yanis Varoufakis	Zoe Gardner
2017	Agnieszka Wiśniewska	Brian Eno	Elif Shafak	Gianna Merki	Lorenzo Marsili	Noam Chomsky	Orla de Díez	Paola Pietrandre	Renata Ávila Pinto	Rosemary Bechler	Srećko Horvat	Yanis Varoufakis
2018	Agnieszka Wiśniewska	Brian Eno	Elif Shafak	Gianna Merki	Lorenzo Marsili	Noam Chomsky	Orla de Díez	Paola Pietrandre	Renata Ávila Pinto	Rosemary Bechler	Srećko Horvat	Yanis Varoufakis
2019	Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk	Daniela Platsch	Erik Edman	Gianna Merki	Ivana Nenadović	Jordi Ayala Roqueta	Mame Faye-Rexhepi	Renata Ávila Pinto	Simona Ferlini	Sissy Velissariou	Srećko Horvat	Yanis Varoufakis
2020	Beral Medra	Erik Edman	Fotini Bakadima	Ivana Nenadović	Jordi Ayala Roqueta	Juljana Zita	Patricia Pozzo	Renata Ávila Pinto	Rosemary Bechler	Simona Ferlini	Srećko Horvat	Yanis Varoufakis
2021	Beral Medra	Erik Edman	Fotini Bakadima	Francesca Martinez	Ivana Nenadović	Jochen Schult	Juljana Zita	Maja Pelević	Patricia Pozzo	Rosemary Bechler	Srećko Horvat	Yanis Varoufakis
2022	Danae Stratou	Defne Dalkara	Erik Edman	Francesca Martinez	Ivana Nenadović	Jochen Schult	Julia May Moore	Juljana Zita	Maja Pelević	Patricia Pozzo	Srećko Horvat	Yanis Varoufakis
2023	Danae Stratou	Defne Dalkara	Erik Edman	Francesca Martinez	Ivana Nenadović	Jochen Schult	Julia May Moore	Juljana Zita	Maja Pelević	Nomazulu Thata	Patricia Pozzo	Yanis Varoufakis
2024	Carolina Rehrmann	Danae Stratou	Defne Dalkara	Erik Edman	Evi Petsangouraki	Federico Dolce	Francesca Martinez	Ivana Nenadović	Julia May Moore	Juljana Zita	Nils Belliot	Nour Hariri	Yanis Varoufakis

The launch of the initiative was covered by the international press.^{[citation needed]} The leading European media reflected in their reports the following days both the potential of the movement and the major contradictions it faces. Varoufakis was asked by the press about the relationship between his initiative and the proposals of other leaders of the European left to confront and to handle what they see as a "crisis of neoliberalism", including the proposals of Oskar Lafontaine in Germany and Jean-Luc Mélenchon in France, for a recovery of sovereignty and a return to national currencies, abandoning the euro. On this point, which is contentious due to the confrontation of opposing positions within the European left, Varoufakis rejected a return of sovereignty to nation-states. He argued for the main goal of the movement to be the repoliticisation of Europe as a unit and the democratisation of its institutions as a way of dealing with tendencies of separation, fragmentation, competition and isolation.^[53]

Varoufakis was harshly criticized by conservatives for his initiative, notably German conservatives. In an article entitled "Varoufakis' kleine Internationale gegen Kapitalismus" ("Varoufakis' little International against capitalism"), the conservative German newspaper Die Welt suggested that Varoufakis' proposals "would shatter Europe apart rather than cure it". In its note on the launching of DiEM25, the paper suggests that this initiative was a product of Varoufakis being "embittered" by the rejection of his ideas. According to the article, Varoufakis could not have been able to accept that his colleagues had not wanted to follow him and would have concluded that he needed international alliances since he had not been able to impose himself at the national level.^[54]

Right after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Polish left-wing party, Lewica Razem, officially opted out of the movement. They argued that neither DiEM25 nor the Progressive International "explicitly declared recognition of Ukraine's right to sovereignty or [..] condemnation of Russian imperialism".^[55][56]

The DiEM25 launched a petition demanding Israel's suspension from world sports "until it fully complies with international law and sports regulations." The petition says "The International Olympic Committee, FIFA, UEFA, FIBA, and other sports organisations are complicit as they allow a continuous participation of the occupying apartheid regime in their events".^[57][58] The letter comes amid a letter published by Irish Member of the European Parliament, Chris MacManus and signed by several MEPs, calling on FIFA, UEFA and "all other competent bodies to take decisive action." DiEM25 has compared Israel's actions to Russia's actions in invading Ukraine in 2022, which saw them widely suspended from international sports: "So on the day four, if we compare figures alone, there was 14 children as victims of war in Ukraine, and that is 14 children too many. But now we have around 14,000 Palestinian children who have been killed in this invasion or aggression on Gaza, And there is no action, there is no condemnation from FIFA, from UEFA, from IOC or anybody. "^[58] In November 2024, DiEM25 members voted to officially adopt the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement's principles for their organisation.^[59]

• Yanis Varoufakis (Greece)
• Rui Tavares (Portugal)
• Srećko Horvat (Croatia)
• Lorenzo Marsili (Italy)
• Noam Chomsky (United States) (signed manifesto and endorsed)^[60][61]
• Ada Colau (Spain)
• Brian Eno (United Kingdom)
• Julien Bayou (France)
• Jean-Michel Jarre (France)^[62]
• James K. Galbraith (United States)
• Susan George (United States/France)
• Boris Groys (Germany)
• Ken Loach (United Kingdom)
• Antonio Negri (Italy)
• Baltasar Garzón (Spain)
• Saskia Sassen (United States/Netherlands)
• Mikuláš Peksa (Czech Republic)^[63]
• Slavoj Žižek (Slovenia)
• Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk (Poland)
• Federico Mayor Zaragoza (Spain)^[64]
• Aleksandar Novaković (Serbia)
• Pamela Anderson (Canada/United States)
• Gaspar Llamazares (Spain)
• John McDonnell (United Kingdom)^[65]
• Dušan Pajović (Montenegro)^[66]

• New Deal (France)