The procedure took place at the same moment when another, relevant procedure was unfolding in the Greek parliament; the main opposition party submitted a proposal for the creation of an investigating committee regarding the negotiation between the Greek government and its international lenders in 2015. As is known, the former minister played a key role in those negotiations while he resigned from the government right after their end and the subsequent agreement of a new bailout/lending deal.

Varoufakis revealed that DiEm25 will take part in the next Greek elections, in a form that its members will decide. He also plans to publicize the minutes of the Eurogroup meetings in which he was present.


In answer to the accusations against him by Nea Dimokratia, Varoufakis  stated that he is always willing to participate in a public debate and discussion over what happened in that period.  His words: “I have repeatedly challenged anyone who wishes to debate against my arguments concerning the coup which hit “Athens Spring”, to facilitate such a discussion in an auditorium which would function as a special court. I will be there, will they?”

Further on, he stated that there is no merit in full compliance to the Troika policies, while at the same time, he does not endorse a complete deconstruction of the E.U. since such a development would lead is to a modern version of the 1930’s. “There is a big difference between disobedience to the policies that hurt Europe within the EU structures, and those political views which suggest a deconstruction of the EU. Such a deconstruction will not take us back to where we would be had the EU not been created, it will take us back to a modern 1930’s version. That is why, along with DiEm25, we dismiss both the submission to the EU policies as well as the simplistic claim that a collapse of the EU is the solution”.
Participation in Elections and Possible Alliances

Varoufakis pointed that “DiEm25 exists in all European countries and it will obviously be present in Greece as well. The members of DiEm25 will decide on the actual form that the movement will take during Greek elections”. “The political vacuum in our country is constantly growing, it must fill up through democratic and radical procedures otherwise it will become full of monsters”.

When asked about possible coalitions with other parties, he answered that “we will co-exist with all political formations in Europe which deny to submit to the Troika mandates and, at the same time reject the voices which call for a return to the country/state-some kind of leftist nationalism”.

Eurogroup Minutes to be Publicized Shortly

“Personally, I think that all European council meetings should be recorded and available to European citizens. This is also part of the DiEM25 mandate. During those Eurogroup meetings where I was participating, I was probably the only one who respected confidentiality without publicizing what was said despite the leaks from the Troika side, leaks which were often toxic and falsified. Shortly, within the context of narrating the Athens Spring thriller, I will submit my view on what happened and I will also submit the minutes of those meetings. My aim is not to replay the past. Today, the present and the future are pushing. The dead-end against which we fought in 2015 is now even bigger. Whatever we do from now on, will have to consider the future of the country and Europe”. 

It Was Never Our Plan to Blackmail

Regarding the existence of plan B (a plan of action in case Greece was forced to exit the Eurozone), Varoufakis pointed that the Greek government was never aiming to blackmail but to react to a possible shut-down of the Greek banks by the country’s international lenders.

“The prevention plan was only supposed to be activated should the Troika decide to brake the law. It was the Troika which was blackmailing the Greek government, or should I say the Greek governments before ours. On the third day of my appointment as a FinMin, the president of the Eurogroup threatened me that, should we want to re-negotiate the agreement between the previous Greek government and the Troika, they would shut our banks down. He was the blackmailer or, to be precise, the one who expressed the blackmail that the Troika imposed on the Greek republic. As a democratically elected government, it was our duty to have a prevention plan against the blackmail; a plan of preventing the shutting down of our banks, a plan to avoid capital controls”.

He went on to estimate that, “Had we, as a government, remained steady in our decision to answer that unfair and blackmailing move, the bank shut-down, with that re-profiling of our bonds, the Troika would have come to terms with us. This does not mean that we would have gotten everything that we were asking for. It does mean that our agreement with the Eurogroup would happen on the basis of a viable financial and reformation program”.