Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said the European Central Bank is following an asphyxiating policy toward the Greek government.
In an interview on Greece’s Mega television on Thursday, the Greek minister said, “The ECB, in my opinion, is pursuing a policy that can be considered asphyxiating toward our government.”
The ECB refused to give Athens flexibility to issue short-term debt to meet its immediate funding needs. It also excluded Greece from the Quantitative Easing program that gives euro zone countries 60 billion euros per month for growth on the grounds that Athens has not completed the reforms required by its bailout program.
Varoufakis said the ECB’s stance is also aimed at Greece’s international lenders funding its bailout as a way to also force them to find a solution with Athens.
Regarding Germany’s hard stance toward Athens and his person in particular by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, Varoufakis said, “Mr. Schaeuble has told me I have lost the trust of the German government. I have told him that I never had it. I have the trust of the Greek people.”
Schaeuble has said that no aid would be handed to Greece until creditors had agreed that it had met its bailout program obligations.
The Greek finance minister said his predecessors were taking directives from the Eurogroup without negotiating and without asking Greek people. Now, his presence has irked many of his European counterparts who were used to Greece saying “yes” to everything. The new government, he said, “demands the right to have the Greek people’s view heard.”
He also said the current European Union austerity policies have led Europe to deflation and have made many European citizens lose faith in EU institutions. Varoufakis urged his counterparts in the euro zone to bring politics back to the Eurogroup.
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