YANIS VAROUFAKIS has told Unherd how Syriza eventually caved in over the Greek bailout ending once of the biggest movements against austerity.
At the time of the Eurozone crisis and bailout negotiations Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pushed the Greek working class to reject the terms.
In 2015 in a referendum the Greek people delivered a clear mandate to resist further crippling cuts.
The final results were 62 against and 38 in favour of rejecting the bailout terms.
However as former finance minister Varoufakis explains the Greek leader would eventually bend to the will of EU ‘budget responsibility.’
Varoufakis said: “Absolutely, but I wish we had gone all the way to the edge.
“I was trying to push our government all the way to the edge but it turned out behind my back my prime minister had agreed with Angela Merkel that they wouldn’t go to the edge and that he would capitulate.
“And I found out later that was the case when we got a thumping 62 percent of the people – very courageous people – saying no we are going to go to the edge. “
He added that Mr Tspiras in effect “overthrew” the people by vetoing the popular result.
The economist continued: “But the prime minister on that night effectively overthrew the people.
“He had called upon them to back the no vote and that very same night said to me it’s time to surrender.
“I said, tonight is the time to push things to the edge and if we needed to get out of the Euro, fine.
“If we could have a debt structure within Europe again, fine.
“What was not fine was the surrender to this permanent concealment of our insolvency.”
Since leaving Syriza, Varoufakis founded the left-wing party MeRA25 in 2018.
MeRa25 is part of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025.
Featured Image: Olaf Kosinsky @WikimediaCommons
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