Deutsche Welle’s interview with former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, titled “Varoufakis: ‘I am proud of Merkel!'” gives an explanation of the situation in Greece in relation to his daughter who lives in Australia.
Asked about his book called “Time for Change” where he explains economics to his teenage daughter, he states “if you can’t explain complicated ideas to a teenager in a way that is compelling and informative, that probably means that you don’t understand those ideas very well yourself.”
He simplifies the complicated situation in Greece by stating: “We can all explain this to our children, and to ourselves. If somebody has gone bankrupt, and you want to pretend that wasn’t the case, then you lend them more money, so they can use the new loans to repay the old ones. If in addition to that, you impose conditions on them that will shrink their income, than even an eight-year-old child knows that this cannot end well.”
He states that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is not going to succeed in reforms because it is “impossible to implement” and he states that that is the reason why he resigned, refusing to be part of “shenanigans”.
Despite the split, he states that he has never had a cross word with Tsipras, and everything was done in a “comradely fashion” when he and Tsipras “agreed to disagree”. Since then they have met on a couple of occasions but they have not really spoken on account of Tsipras being committed to a program that Varoufakis believes is “calamitous”.
In hindsight he states that he would do things differently. Doing things the same would mean he was “a fanatical fool and a very dangerous person”, however he states that the funamental position was correct.
Regarding Merkel:
“As a European, I am exceedingly proud of Chancellor Merkel for her principled stance on the question of refugees. This is an example of how misguided the criticism is of Germany as the source of problems for Europe, which is prevalent not just in Greece, but in France, in Italy, and in Spain. I believe Chancellor Merkel’s stance can be a harbinger of good things to come for Europe. When somebody knocks at your door who is hungry, who has been shot at, who is injured, you have a moral obligation – and I believe chancellor Merkel understands that – to open the door, whatever the cost, and take them in. By doing this, we are reconfirming our European humanism.”
He refers to his speeches and states he will continue giving them, unless of course something changes in Europe, only then would he consider running for elected office again.
