EUROZONE-GREECE/VAROUFAKIS Greece’s Varoufakis says new bailout deal ‘humiliating’ and ‘non viable’

Record ID: 144170

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/VAROUFAKIS Greece’s Varoufakis says new bailout deal ‘humiliating’ and ‘non viable’
  • Date: 13th August 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (AUGUST 13, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF PARLIAMENT BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEBYIO1DXEEONKI11PSCODBLBK
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Greece's former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis on Thursday (August 13) said a new bailout deal between Greece and its creditors would fail, warning the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would not have confidence in the programme.
    Varoufakis made the comments during a committee level debate ahead of a parliamentary vote set to take place on the 85 billion euro bailout deal that Greece needs to avoid defaulting on a debt repayment next week.
    "I believe that Euclid (Tsakalotos), Giorgos Stathakis did everything they could within the framework of a particularly humiliating agreement. Unfortunately it remains completely non viable," Varoufakis told lawmakers.
    "There is no possibility the IMF will participate (in the programme) at least in the short run," he added.
    Varoufakis, a charismatic motorbike-riding academic who described himself as an "erratic Marxist", was feted as a political rock star when he took the finance portfolio after the left-wing Syriza party emerged victorious from an election in January.
    But as the debt talks dragged on the confrontational Varoufakis lost the confidence of his negotiating partners, irritating German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble in particular and accusing Europe of "terrorism" in its attempts to resolve the Greek crisis.
    The former finance minister resigned from his position in July only days after Greeks voted against a proposed bailout deal.
    Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's Syriza party looks set to split after the leader of its far-left faction called for a new movement to fight the bailout deal.
    Days after striking an agreement with foreign creditors, Tsipras is asking parliament to approve the agreement that pledges tax hikes and spending cuts in exchange for 85 billion euros in fresh loans. It will be Greece's third financial rescue programme agreed with creditors in five years.
    The vote, expected in the early hours of Friday (August 14), will test the strength of a rebellion by anti-austerity Syriza lawmakers, which could raise pressure on Tsipras to call snap elections as early as September.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register