(Newswire.net — July 6, 2015) — Athens, Greece – An unexpected outcome Sunday after Greeks voted against measures proposed by the EU. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, who shared Greece PM Tsipra’s ideas and called the citizens to refuse EU proposal on referendum, resigned immediately after voting.
Minister Varoufakis’ resignation was a surprise because he strongly supported the idea that the Greek financial system would survive after voting ‘No’ to the EU measures, which would have meant no to money that could save Greek banks, but would have come at a severe price to Greeks.
“Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Euro-group 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,” he said Monday in an online statement.
Varoufakis added that he would “wear the creditors’ loathing with pride” and pledged his continued support to Tsipras and whomever he chooses as his new finance minister, Russia Today reported.
It is unclear though if the Prime minister of Greece Tsipras would accept Varufakis’s resignation, for he is one of the main pillows in Tsipras’s political Parthenon.
On Sunday more than 61 percent of Greek voters said no to a bailout plan proposed by foreign creditors, supporting their government’s opposition to the plan.
While Greeks celebrated on the streets demonstrating their support to the government, the result was lamented elsewhere in the EU. German Economy Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, commented that by rejecting the proposal, Mr. Tsipras had “torn down the last bridges on which Greece and Europe could have moved toward a compromise.” However, not all economy experts agree that the Greeks made the wrong choice.
According to economist and author James K. Galbraith, Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, the truth about Greek financial drama is quite opposite from the general opinion.
In his article “9 myths about the Greek crisis,” published by the Politico, Galbraith explained that Greeks voting “No” to the IMF and ECB austerity proposal actually “can save Greece – and by saving Greece, save Europe.”
“A ‘No’ means that the Greek people will not bend, that their government will not fall, and that the creditors need, finally, to come to terms with the failures of European policy so far. Negotiations can then resume – or more correctly, proper negotiations can then start,” Galbraith wrote.
Leaders of the Eurozone will meet Tuesday to discuss what steps creditors will now make toward Greece.