After months of negotiations with international creditors, Greek Prime Minister Alexi Tsipras has overhauled his negotiating team. The reshuffle has meant that Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis – known to be outspoken and described as a maverick – has been sidelined. The move comes as Greece failed to meet its own self-imposed deadline of April 24, as many predicted, with the country quickly running out of funds.
“They are unanimous in their hate for me; and I welcome their hatred”
Nikos Theocarakis, the handpicked representative of Varoufakis has been replaced by George Chouliarakis who is seen as a close ally to Tsipras. The new negotiating team will be led by deputy foreign minister Euclid Tsakalotos, an economist who, according to Reuters, is well liked by officials of creditor nations.
Varoufakis is said to have fallen foul of his counterparts due to his uncompromising negotiating style. CityAM reports that Spain’s finance chief Luis de Guindos said that all ministers involved in the negotiations told Varoufakis that “this can’t go on.” After negotiations, the finance minister tweeted on April 24:
FDR, 1936: “They are unanimous in their hate for me; and I welcome their hatred.” A quotation close to my heart (& reality) these days
— Yanis Varoufakis (@yanisvaroufakis) April 26, 2015
According to Mujtaba Rahman, Head of European Analysis at the Eurasia Group risk consultancy, reports the Financial Times, “Varoufakis has become the single biggest impediment to a Greek deal,” and that his “relationship with Tsipras and Tsipras’s willingness to cut him loose has been the central question investors have been focused on.”
Markets reacted well to the sidelining of Varoufakis. The Athens stock market saw a 4.4 percent bump, while the German Dax rose nearly two percent. Greek 10 year bond yields also fell by a percent and borrowing costs on Greece’s July 2017 bonds were down by almost four percent.
