Mr.Varoufakis was the speaker at a Guardian event which took place in London. The room was full with more than 2000 spectators. While there, he got to answer questions submitted to him by Channel 4 financial editor Paul Mason who has been closely following the Greek crisis as well as the rise of Syriza to power.
One of the weapons, Mr. Varoufakis mentioned was the opportunity to reprofile the portion of the Greek debt which was at the hands of the ECB, since this was subject to Greek laws. According to the ex minister, this strategic move had been agreed between the members of the “wartime” cabinet; Greece would refute the debt at the exact moment when the creditors decided to enforce capital controls, and, thus the closing of the banks. “Nevertheless, when the time came, the core of the government cabinet said no” said Varoufakis.
When asked about the objectives of the government during the time when he was the Finance minister, he said: “to resist within the Eurozone until the cost, for the other side, became more than the cost of our financial drowning”.
He strongly criticized the bailout deal that the creditors offered to Greece, stating that the terms aimed at humiliating the Syriza led government. Varoufakis called the European tactics “barbaric politics of 19th century style”.