Yanis Varoufakis who was involved with 2015 Greek debt crisis has accused Eurozone finance ministers of “failing Europeans” after a 16-hour meeting regarding a coronavirus fiscal package ended in a stalemate. The economist who is somewhat of a rebel has said he witnessed and was the victim of bullying at the height of Greece’s financial crisis when his defiant strategy against debt negotiations with European leaders led to banks being closed and long queues at cash machines.
Mr Varoufakis has stated on social media that after the overnight meeting “the Eurogroup, again, failed Europeans. The Italian finance minister, during the night, was bullied to surrender – as I was in 2015. It was all done behind closed doors and with no minutes kept.” Time was called on the talks this morning after it emerged warring ministers would not sign up to a compromise deal. Italy is on opposite sides of this argument to the Netherlands and both have been urged to drop their red lines to allow the bloc to eventually forge a common response coronavirus crisis.
Italy, with its shaky economy, has the support of Spain, France and others are pushing for the EU to agree to a mechanism to share the debt burden of the post-coronavirus economic recovery across the bloc. The French finance minister Bruno Le Maire has said: “Nothing would be worse for Europe than for some states, because they are richer, to get off to a quick start, while others, because they cannot afford it, start slowly. We all need to recover at the same speed in order to guarantee the cohesion, solidarity and unity of the eurozone and our common currency”.
The Dutch finance minister Wopke Hoekstra has said it is “too early to agree a total package” and is insistent that the Netherlands is still adamant that any joint debt mechanism proposals to aid recovery must be scrapped. Mr Hoekstra said “We think this will create more problems than solutions for the EU. We would have to guarantee debts of other countries which isn’t reasonable. The majority of the Eurogroup shares this view and does not support Eurobonds”.
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Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!
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