The European left faces a dilemma. Syriza’s shift from an anti-austerity party to one that follows European diktats, the unexpected electoral results in Spain, and the Brexit result have forced us to again consider our relationship to the European Union.

Yanis Varoufakis and DiEM25 have one solution: rattle the cage from within the European Union to rally left movements. But their analysis fails to acknowledge the central role that nation-states still play. These states remain centers of capital accumulation and sites of democracy — the political strategy and actors needed to ensure a move away from austerity can only be organized at the local and national level.