Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has resigned after Greek voters delivered an overwhelming “No” vote in a referendum on whether to accept more austerity measures in return for new bailout cash.
In a statement published on his personal blog on Monday, Varoufakis said he was stepping down to allow Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to reach a new deal with European creditors.
“Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my … ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement,” Varoufakis wrote on his blog.
“For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today.
“I consider it my duty to help Alexis Tsipras exploit, as he sees fit, the capital that the Greek people granted us through yesterday’s referendum. And I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.”
Al Jazeera’s John Psaropoulos, reporting from Athens, said the decision to step down was expected and not a surprise.
credit: Aljeezera
