Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis Resigns After Referendum Victory
ATHENS, Greece, July 6 (UPI) — Greece’s Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis resigned Monday shortly after helping lead a historic financial referendum that rejected bailout demands from international creditors.
Varoufakis said he resigned because many creditors did not want him present during further negotiations and as to continue his support for Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
With a voter turnout of 63 percent, 61 percent of those voters cast “OXI” or “No” ballots, effectively rejecting the creditors’ terms.
“The referendum of July 5th will stay in history as a unique moment when a small European nation rose up against debt-bondage,” Varoufakis said on his blog. “Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners,’ for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the prime minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement. For this reason I am leaving the ministry of finance today.”
Varoufakis is considered by many to be outspoken, combative and quarrelsome. He’s often clashed with creditors during and outside negotiations.
“I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride,” he said, adding that he will support the new finance minister and Tsipras’ leftist, anti-establishment Syriza government.
Needing to pay a $1.7 billion payment to the International Monetary Fund by the end of June, but not having the cash to do so, Athens engaged in numerous negotiations over the last four months — hoping to strike a deal to unlock the remainder of $7 billion in relief cash previously granted by the organization.
However, demands by creditors for Athens to cut government spending in exchange for the relief aid proved to be the deal breaker.
Tsipras repeatedly rejected the offers, saying the cuts would affect Greek workers’ wages and state-funded pensions.
Greece has a public debt of $361 billion from previous loans keeping the country afloat for the past five years. On June 30, Greece became the first developed nation in history to default on a loan from the IMF.
