“Can I commit that we’ll be the government in January (2015)?” was Greek “celebrity” FinMin Yanis Varoufakis’ response to a contract cleaning lady on Wednesday outside the ministry.

The scene is as follows: Yanis, the academic and game theorist, arrives at the ministry and is greeted by contract cleaning staff, many of whom have camped out in central Syntagma Square, in order to press for their hiring.

“Minister, what will happen with us?” was the question directed towards Varoufakis. His answer was that a relevant contract will be extended to December, to which the cleaners said they want work after the end of the year. “Can I commit that we’ll be the government in January?

If we are, then the commitment is absolute,” he said, before again saying there was no “double currency” option on the table, “only a political solution”. Technocratic solutions have long fallen by the wayside…