Gone but not forgotten. The former Greek finance minister lifts the lid on his statement that
Writing on his blog, Yannis Varoufakis releases the statement that he gave when he first sat down with the Eurogroup. Many at the Eurogroup had their noses put out of joint with his views on how the reforms should continue and his boldness put him at odds with various members like Germany's Schaeuble from the start
This is his way of trying to set the record straight and here's the opening gambit;
"One after the other, officials who took part in bringing Greece's elected government to its knees last July are now coming out of the woodwork with claims that the reason for the six month stalemate between Athens and the Eurogroup in the first half of 2015 was... me. One finance minister recently claimed that upon hearing my statement in the first Eurogroup I attended (11th February 2015) he could sense Greece was heading "straight to the rocks". Others have castigated the same intervention as inflammatory, antagonistic toward my colleagues, evidence that I was not serious about negotiating, plus a number of other epithets that propriety prevents me from reproducing here.
In the absence of minutes, that one could consult to form one's own judgment on these claims (and my counter-claims), I am now making public the full text of my statement in the said Eurogroup meeting. It is up to you, dear reader, to verify the rolling allegations. Or to reach the alternative conclusion that the troika and the Eurogroup were simply not interested in any outcome other than the 'surrender' of a government that had the audacity to request a re-calibration of a failed program - and the collective punishment of a nation that dared elect such a government. [Besides the actual statement I read in the said meeting, here is a non paper here is a non-paper that I distributed to Eurogroup members."
The full speech can be found here
Varoufakis - Down but not out
