Firestorm as Greek politicians discover Varoufakis’ “Adults in the Room”

A political firestorm broke out in Greece over the weekend when several newspapers published excerpts from the book “Adults in the Room” written by former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. In his book Varoufakis revealed some dialogues he held with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and deputy finance minister Giorgos Houliarakis who was also negotiating with the European lenders in spring 2015.

The dialogues, Varoufakis claims, he had recorded on his mobile, refer to the dramatic consultations among the top Greeks amid creditors’ pressures and threats to kick out Greece from the Eurozone as the European Central Bank was drying out liquidity and the country was on the verge of another economic collapse.

Some of Varoufakis’ revelations

1. On the night before the Referendum, Prime Minister was concerned that a coup d’ etat might be launched, Varoufakis claims. Tsipras had informed accordingly the President of the Republic, the secret services and the governor of Bank of Greece Yannis Stournaras.
2. Tsipras did not want to keep the NO from the very beginning and he was looking for excuses for the capital controls.
3. When the capital controls were imposed and Tsipras learned that 16billion euros were in several state portfolios, he wanted to feed this money to the ATMs that were running dry. Varoufakis told Tsipras this would be theft.
4. About Stournaras, Varoufakis quotes Tsipras (or Minister Pappas ?) to have said in 2014, he could kick Stournaras out of the Bank of Greece, when he would come to power.
5. There was the Plan X, and the parallel payment system and the Plan B.

The book is long, the revelations are long as Varoufakis speaks about how each government official and how each EU official handled the crisis … – and it is still 36 degrees Celsius outside.

The point of the whole post here is that opposition parties in one voice attack Alexis Tsipras for “wanted to grab the 16 billion euros” although he did not, for his Plan B that was not materialize and for everything he was thinking to do but did not.

New Democracy demanded a parliamentary investigation about what Tsipras knew, thought, did and did not do.

“Justice should investigate what Varoufakis and Lafazanis reveal,” a furious ND said in a statement.

Each opposition party issued a statement and added its own spoonful of sauce to the soup boiling in Greece’s political kitchen.

Those opposition parties who have been attacking ex finance minister  Varoufakis as “dangerous”, “incompetent” and “untrustworthy”, they now line up  behind his book to attack prime minister Alexis Tsipras.

SYRIZA lawmakers ironically wished Varoufakis ‘good luck’ with his latest cheap romantic novel.

I think I had a wonderful early morning swim in a rather cold sea this Sunday, my nerves are pretty relaxed and therefore I fail to see: what’s the point of the firestorm, when excerpts from Varoufakis’ book have been published by the Greek media on and off since last May?

PS As it is now 35C, I’m too lazy even to search for the links to these posts about Varoufakis plans and books and kids in the government and the EU room. Apologies – not really 🙂 Because if I search in my archives I will find out that there was never a real debate and investigation about how PASOK and New Democracy brought Greece to this financial mess and I will get angry. It would be a pity to spoil such a lovely Sunday.