Greece had a chance to default and be kicked out of the European common currency bloc “but we missed it,” said former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.
Speaking to the Guardian, Varoufakis said that the reason Europe is not able to tackle the refugee influx problem is mainly due to the six-year monetary crisis that has divided the continent and turned Eurozone nations against each other.
Varoufakis said that the refugee crisis is symbolic of Europe’s inability to act together. The recent Paris terrorist attacks has made several EU member states raise barbed wire fences to prevent refugees from coming in.
The former minister puts a big part of the blame on the euro. “Europeans are a people divided by a common currency. The euro crisis has fragmented Europe, turning Greeks against Germans, Irish against Spanish etc, he told the Guardian.
“It makes it hard for the EU to function as a political entity, as a unified entity. The centrifugal force ofthe monetary union has made it harder to deal with the refugee crisis. In a sense, it is the straw that has broken the camel’s back,” he added.
Speaking about Greece and the signing of a bailout agreement that required harsh austerity measures in July, Varoufakis said he had to resign because he did not believe in the measures required. He said he never regretted his strategy.
“The general strategy was correct. I took over as finance minister 15 days before we went into bankruptcy. The loan was unsustainable and part of the extend and pretend policy. I was not going to be part of that and we had a tough line,” he said.
“But creditors were more interested in the demonstration effect of crashing a government for daring to oppose them so that they could intimidate others such as Spain, Ireland and France,” he continued. “Greece was treated like a pawn on a chess board so it was very hard. We had a chance [to default] and we missed it.
“We should have defaulted. They would have come around and we would have a compromise agreement, but I wasn’t allowed to use that weapon. But something will have to give. Unfortunately the resolution as it stands now is not consistent with the interests of European countries,” the Guardian report concludes.
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