Overview
- Varoufakis has been ordered to appear in December on charges of incitement to consume and promotion of addictive substances, according to his party MeRA25.
- The allegations stem from a January podcast in which he recounted taking ecstasy decades ago and said he still smokes cannabis while voicing concern about addiction.
- MeRA25 condemned the summons and criticized the judiciary, vowing to address addiction with an open, modern scientific stance rather than what it called a 1950s gendarmerie mindset.
- Varoufakis, a prominent figure from Greece’s 2015 debt crisis, previously served as finance minister and co-founded the pan‑European movement DiEM25.
- MeRA25 remains a minor force in Greek politics, having failed to clear the 3% threshold in the 2023 parliamentary elections and polling below that level since.