×
GreekEnglish

×
  • Politics
  • Diaspora
  • World
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Cooking
Thursday
15
Jan 2026
weather symbol
Athens 14°C
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • World
  • Diaspora
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Mediterranean Cooking
  • Weather
Contact follow Protothema:
Powered by Cloudevo
> Economy

Varoufakis: Official government line was that country was bankrupt

Former Finance Minister calls for Stournaras to step down

Newsroom October 15 12:27

In an article in newspaper “Efimedida Ton Syntakton”, former Greek Finance Minister Yianis Varoufakis responds to the allegations levelled against him by the governor of the Bank of Greece (BoG), Yiannis Stournaras during his deposition before the parliamentary committee on transparency. In his article Varoufakis calls for the removal of Stornaras from his position as governor. The former Finance Minister admits that while in talks with Greece’s creditors he did refer to Greece as a bankrupt state, adding that in an informal meeting, on February 1, 2015, with IMF representative Paul Thomsen, Commissioner Moscovici and Karre, he had told them it was “time to stop pretending that the Greek state was solvent and acknowledge it was bankrupt and try to continue forward with a debt restructuring”. In his article, Varoufakis explains that when he visited ECB President Mario Draghi, on February 4 he was informed of the decision to exclude Greek banks from the ECB’s liquidity program. Varoufakis presented four reasons for the replacement of Stournaras, citing article 4 of the Bank of Greece’s articles of association, which states the BoG should back the Greek government’s general economic policy, something Stournaras did not during the negotiations with the country’s creditors, as he had urged Draghi to disregard the opinion that Greece was bankrupt put forward by Varoufakis. The second reason is the statement made by Stournaras on December 15, 2014, when the head of the BoG said that “liquidity in the market was drying up” and that “this would cause irreversible harm”, two statements Varoufakis dubbed “unprecedented” in the history of banking coming from the mouth of a central banker. He says these statements caused a massive flight of capital from the country, adding that they were the precursor to strangle the Greek government, which had not even been elected yet. The third reason he gives in his article is that Stournaras has displayed incompetence as supervisory body of the Greek banking system, pointing to the unchecked lending to political parties and media businesses. Finally, Varoufakis dubs Stournaras as scientifically inept, while also displaying signs of self-importance and arrogance as he presented himself as the “saviour” of the country.

Ask me anything

Explore related questions

#bank#draghi#ecb#economy#eu#greece#moscovici#varoufakis
> More Economy

Follow en.protothema.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news

See all the latest News from Greece and the World, the moment they happen, at en.protothema.gr

> Latest Stories

“Aunt Pecu,” who lived outside all protocol: Who the unconventional and eccentric princess Irene was

January 15, 2026

High-tech fraud – SMS blaster attack: Bank data stolen using special equipment installed in a car’s trunk

January 15, 2026

Ballistic missile strike hits pier in Ukraine

January 15, 2026

Ursula von der Leyen from the Green Line: Pushing for a solution to the Cyprus issue is a priority

January 15, 2026

The ordeal of a 28-year-old Greek man in Australia: He went on holiday to visit relatives, was injured at a beach, and is at risk of quadriplegia

January 15, 2026

Princess Irene dies at the age of 83

January 15, 2026

Scientists uncover why the moon has a “two-faced” nature

January 15, 2026

Grief in Crete for the loss of Yannis Xylouris

January 15, 2026
All News

> Greece

“Aunt Pecu,” who lived outside all protocol: Who the unconventional and eccentric princess Irene was

Princess Irene, the younger sister of Queen Sofía of Spain, will be laid to rest at Tatoi on a date to be announced by the Spanish royal household

January 15, 2026

High-tech fraud – SMS blaster attack: Bank data stolen using special equipment installed in a car’s trunk

January 15, 2026

Ursula von der Leyen from the Green Line: Pushing for a solution to the Cyprus issue is a priority

January 15, 2026

Princess Irene dies at the age of 83

January 15, 2026

Commander Ioannis Kizanis leads Greece’s newest Frigate “Kimon”

January 15, 2026
Homepage
PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY COOKIES POLICY TERM OF USE
Powered by Cloudevo
Copyright © 2026 Πρώτο Θέμα