SYRIZA Candidate Varoufakis' Comments Cause Greek PM Samaras' Reaction

In an article entitled “Greece can force Europe to change,” the online edition of French financial newspaper La Tribune hosted an interview with economist and SYRIZA parliamentary candidate in Athens’ second electoral constituency, Giannis Varoufakis, who underlined that the proposals his party is ready to make will force Greman Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble to accept them.

Asked to describe those proposals, Varoufakis said that SYRIZA will ask for a 10 to 15 days deadline to complete the project, which its economic staff saying it is detailed and thorough. Furthermore, he explained that the plan will be based on four basic pillars, the first of which will be addressing the Greek debt. “We want to make proposals to Wolfgang Schaeuble, he won’t be able to refuse,” while the “idea is that Europe should be our partner in development and not bet on our misery.”

In addition, the Greek economist, who has been approached by SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras in 2010 in order to participate in the main opposition party, strongly criticized the project of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker but also the one of European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi. “I cannot cease to be amazed by the stupidity of the Juncker project. It is like giving an aspirin to a dead man. Similarly, Mario Draghi’s quantitative easing is not a very good idea. Undoubtedly, it will feed bubbles to financial markets. And if Mario Draghi wants to buy government debt, it will be more useful to do so in the secondary market of the European Investment Bank shares. It would be much more useful from the repurchase of the German debt,” Varoufakis said.

Although, the phrase that caused the fierce reaction of Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, who issued a response through his press office, was the one referring to the possibility of a German refusal on SYRIZA’s proposals: “Whatever it does or says, Germany always pays at the end,” the SYRIZA candidate said.