Habemus candidatum: Varoufakis to run for parliament

Two-and-a-half years after his unceremonious exit from Alexis Tsipras’ government, Yanis Varoufakis has announced that he intends to run for parliament.

Varoufakis declared that he has taken this decision with a “heavy heart”, and at the same time he lashed out at the prime minister, asserting that Tsipras “simply executes orders that come to him by mail from Brussels”.

Speaking to private ANT1 TV in Greece today, Varoufakis said he had made a commitment in 2015 to stay in Greece and not return to his career as a university professor.

Varoufakis described Tsipras as perceptive, but insisted that the prime minister is expressing a narrative which he knows does not correspond to reality.

“Tsipras right now is not making policy. He is merely executing orders that come to him by mail from Brussels,” Varoufakis said.

Varoufakis maintained that the Europeans’ threat of Grexit in 2015 was a “hollow threat”, and that in any event if they had gone ahead, Greece would have been in a better position right now.

Varoufakis said that there is no “Greek crisis”, but rather a broader European phenomenon.

Varoufakis said that the next convention of his “Diem 25” movement will take place in Greece in February, when it will receive its Greek name, with himself as leader.

in.gr