Germany’s Schäuble casts doubt on tentative Greek bailout deal

Seasoned and “successful” politicians and bureaucrats are good at is manipulating our collective perception and Will such that the interpretation of events we adopt is the one they want us to adopt – in others words, we actually behave as though we actually believe what they say makes sense and is for the best. It has nothing to do with putting Greece on the way to recovery. “Well, this time, it was the banks”.

Prime minister Alexis Tsipras “didn’t have what it took, sentimentally, emotionally, at that moment, to carry that no vote to Europe and use it as a weapon”, said Varoufakis.

Growing anger at the creditors’ wishlist played out on social media under the hashtag #thisisacoup, as the drastic demands made were presented as the price to pay if Greece was to stay in the European union.

Leather jacket-clad, motorbike-riding Varoufakis shot to rock-star fame thanks to his unusual style for a finance minister after being appointed to the job in the wake of the leftist Syriza victory in late January.

The former Greek finance minister feared the ECB would close Greek banks to force a deal.

He told the New Statesman that further austerity measures will only shrink the Greek economy.

He said these moves would have threatened a Grexit but expressed confidence that Athens would not be expelled as there was no legal provision for such a move. Greece had to be excluded from the monetary union to “discipline other members, who opposed this very specific plan”, Varoufakis said.

Following the referendum, Syriza’s six strong inner cabinet held a vote and by 4-2, rejected Varoufakis’s plan. He also claimed that European governments that people might think would be most sympathetic to Greece turned out to be its “most energetic enemies”.

“His view was ‘I’m not discussing the programme – this was accepted by the previous [Greek] government and we can’t possibly allow an election change anything”.

Varoufakis noted in a blog on Tuesday that he had warned of the risks of “a new Versailles treaty” when the first Greek bailout was negotiated in 2010. “They will inherit the mantle of the anti-austerity drive, tragically”.