Yanis Varoufakis, the ever-defiant leftist Greek finance minister, announced on his blog that he will be leaving the Ministry of Finance today, saying that “(t)he referendum of 5th July will stay in history as a unique moment when a small European nation rose up against debt-bondage,” and that he “shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.”
According to him, the decision to resign apparently came from the EU and Alexis Tsipras. He explains:
“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. For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today.”
Well, at least someone came out of the Greferendum on top.
Interestingly, the euro began to further retrace its losses against the Swiss franc, the dollar, and the yen right around the time of his announcement.
Photo credit: Brookings Institution via Flickr