Over a decade since the start of Greece’s sovereign debt crisis, claims that the country has got “back on its feet” seem rather out of step with reality. The February 28 rail disaster in Tempi, which killed fifty-seven people, provided a tragic reminder of how national infrastructure has been devastated by years of austerity and shock privatizations.

Seeking a fresh mandate in Sunday’s general election, the right-wing New Democracy faces criticism not just for Greeks’ economic woes, but also its record of authoritarianism and spying on opponents. Yet its main competitor, Alexis Tsipras’s Syriza, is struggling to mobilize popular discontent. After he spent his spell in office from 2015 to 2019 imposing the austerity he had promised to resist, the Greek left remains greatly weakened.

Yanis Varoufakis was finance minister in the first Syriza-led government, resigning this role in July 2015 rather than capitulate to austerian dogmas. A staunch critic of Syriza’s record, Varoufakis is today a leading member of the left-wing party MeRA25, for which he has also been an MP since 2019. Jacobin’s David Broder spoke to him about the ongoing effects of austerity on Greece, the bases of its claimed economic “recovery,” and his party’s alternative.