Deutsche Welle — Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is no longer in office, but he doesn’t steer clear of politics. With books, lectures and speeches, Varoufakis hopes to influence the current debate on the future of Europe, he tells DW.
Varoufakis resigned one day following the July 5 referendum in Greece, in which Greeks rejected a bailout plan proposed by the international creditors.
Two months into the deal, the Greek government and international creditors are already in a dispute about the implementation of certain reforms and austerity measures, including foreclosures on first homes, VAT on private education and reforms in the licenses for pharmacies. The discrepancy is delaying the disbursement of two billion euros of bailout funds to Greece.
“Tsipras is not going to succeed, and he knows that,” Varoufakis said.”I resigned because I was not prepared to sign up to a reform program that was impossible to implement. Tsipras clearly stated that he was forced to accept this program, although he did not believe it could be implemented.”
” In the last five years, we effectively had three governments which all tried to implement a program that is impossible to implement. Now that my former colleagues and comrades are following the illogical logic of the past five years, the result will be the same”.
“We now have this ludicrous situation where the powers that be in Europe – including the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, the German and the Greek governments – are all pretending to be implementing a program which they know cannot be implemented. I refused to be part of these shenanigans, and that is why I resigned,” he added.
Despite his departure from the administration and his dismissal of the new bailout deal, Varoufakis notes that he has never had a negative encounter with Tsipras following his resignation.
” I can understand how difficult it is to be the prime minister when your banking system has been shut down by a central bank that is trying to push you down to your knees. I can understand the agony of having to make these decisions when pensioners had no access to their bank accounts. So I understand this was a hard choice, but I do not agree with him”.
Varoufakis’s dispute with the German government throughout his term, with regards to the economic route Greece and Europe should take, was well documented. However, in this interview the former finance minister praised German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her response to the refugee crisis.
“As a European, I am exceedingly proud of Chancellor Merkel for her principled stance on the question of refugees. This is an example of how misguided the criticism is of Germany as the source of problems for Europe, which is prevalent not just in Greece, but in France, in Italy, and in Spain. I believe Chancellor Merkel’s stance can be a harbinger of good things to come for Europe,” Varoufakis claimed.
He elaborated that he believes Merkel understands the moral obligation of helping somebody in need and noted that this hospitable approach reaffirms European humanism.
