Government circles are denying that Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis mentioned the possibility of a referendum being held in the country to determine Greece’s stay in the euro.

“Over the last few days we have noticed an effort to strike at Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis through snide statements or by fabricating fake or misleading news. Statements that were never made or with the addition of ‘clarifications’ that totally change the meaning of the answers, as was the case in the particular interview that appeared in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera,” was the “spin” given by government sources, adding that Varoufakis never referred to a “referendum for the euro.”

They state that the word “euro” was added by the journalist  herself, hence she placed it in brackets.

The same sources emphasized that there is no intent to replace the outspoken Varoufakis. “We won’t do them the favor. The Finance Minister of Greece is Yanis Varoufakis. If they want someone styled after Gikas Hardouvelis, who said ‘yes’ to everything then they will be disappointed,” the ubiquitous sources said.

Pointing to recent opinion polls rather than the plurality of 36 percent that SYRIZA received on Jan. 25, the sources said the leftist government has the majority of the Greek people on its side and will keep its commitments for real negotiations with its EU partners, something that government sources say never occurred during the Samaras government.

On his part SYRIZA MEP Dimitris Papadimoulis said the government has the people’s mandate that needs to be put into effect before thinking of the next elections.”The people spoke recently and very clearly and the support and the order for a solution within the euro has been heard loud and clear,” he said.