Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras gave full coverage to former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and said that he ordered the ex FinMin to work out an emergency contingency plan but not a Grexit plan.
Speaking to the Greek Parliament after a question posed by PASOK leader Fofi Gennimatas, Tsipras said among others:
“Of course I instructed the Minister of Finance to set up a team to prepare a defense plan in case of emergency” and stressed that “the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition had no plans to exit the Eurozone but a crisis management plan.”
Varoufakis’s Plan B that included the introduction of a “parallel banking system” and the “hacking of taxpayers’ registration numbers” was revealed during a conference call with international hedge funds and triggered an outrage among not only opposition but also SYRIZA members. Varoufakis had said that he was acting following orders by PM Tsipras.
In the Parliament, the Prime Minister defended Varoufakis even though he criticized some of his policies.
“Instead of looking for responsibilities about the Grexit, you would better contact those who cultivated the Grexit. Haven’t you heard anything about the Plan B of Brussels with 1,000 pages?” Tsipras asked the opposition adding, “For the first time we heard that the European Commission was preparing such a plan in 2012. This plan has been continuously updated. The partners and lenders had a ready Grexit plan. Shouldn’t we asa government design our defenses? We had an obligation to the citizens to be prepare against such a possibility.”
Tsiporas vehemently denied that the government was preparing a Grexit Plan.
“You accuse us that we had a secret plan for the country’s exit from the eurozone. so, why didn’t we implement it? If our goal was to get the country out of the euro, why didn’t we do it when the referendum result was 62%?”
Tsipras defended Varoufakis plan to get access to taxpayers’ registration numbers saying that “this data base was useful for the euro” and said that Varoufakis made mistakes as Finance Minister.
Talking about fancy shirts: Vartoufakis this morning in the Greek parliament
“Mr. Varoufakis may have responsibilities and have made mistakes. You can blame him for going to Aegina [island near Athens] or that he is not wearing nice shirts. But you cannot blame him that he is a ‘lamogio’ [gouger], that he wasted people’s money. or that he had a plan to drive the country to the rocks. Varoufakis did not hide in his drawer lists with fraudsters [Lagarde-list] as [ex PASOK Finance Ministers] Venizelos and Papaconstantinou did.”
Ηinting to PASOK scandals Tsipras told leader Genimmata to not throw stones to when sitting in the glasshouse.
Dieselboom made the same plans in 2014 for the Guilden
That’s interesting! Do you have a ink for that?
I’ve read only that he confirmed it in 2014, but here it looks like he only needed some updates
Look for: “Current finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem also confirmed the existence of the plan on Tuesday in his weekly interview with”
The fancy shirt does fit Varoufakis very well. He should offer one to Dieselboom when the haughty Dutchman comes to Aigina.
How come ministry of finance has no access to taxpayers’ registration numbers etc.?
poor old gennimatas would die all over again to hear his daughter today…
More praise and less criticism is due to a man such as Varoufakis! He is a hero in my eyes.
If I remember right Varoufakis in the past that there was no plan B.
I didn’t know how he could prove a negative at the time.
Like saying the ancient Peruvians and the ancient Egyptians did not have the wheel but moved megalithic stones. How could that be proven?
How could we believe at the time no one had a plan B, C, or D?
Dieselboom said their was no template!
So the Failed Finance Minister of Greece Yannis Varoufakis is still on the payrole ?
While 1/2 of Greece’s workers are unemployed.
Varoufakis would make a good weather man don’t you think
They never get it right either.
Ermm, NO. Like all of your comments, everything is incorrect. V is no longer paid as finance minister. If you mean that an elected (repeat, elected) member of the Parliament collects a salary as do all of them, then yes.
And his job was not to make forecasts. His job was to change the weather — rather more difficult, don’t you think?
How can he fail if the perfect crime democracy allows it that 4 government/party-members can vote against 2 in the most important decision? Resigning gives him the chance for a comeback