Following the previous report [3]that during dinner yesterday Yanis Varoufakis, whose political position is currently in limbo, was attacked by young anarchists and whose wife promptly swooped in to protect him from literal stones (if not sticks), as opposed to the Eurogroup's metaphorical ones, the is the statement he just issued, courtesy of the Guardian [4]:
Contrary to the conjecture that has been heard, it was not an organised attack or attempt at seriously injuring us, provocation or part of the much wider attempt to politically “econstruct” me in recent days.
I have the impression that their goal was not to hurt us, because if they had wanted to hurt us, they had the opportunity and ‘arithmetic’ supremacy to do so. I think their aim was to force me to flee with a few light humiliating swipes. This, however, will never be known because Danae before the anti-establishment protestors [and before I could stop her], stood up and hugged me hard, turning her back towards them so that they would have to hit her before me.”
Meanwhile, with much confusion over who is now in charge when negotiating with the Troika, Yanis tried to clear things up:
- VAROUFAKIS SAYS HE'S IN CHARGE OF NEGOTIATIONS WITH EURO GROUP.
Ok, just please make sure Moscovici gets the memo:
- MOSCOVICI SAYS VAROUFAKIS DEPARTURE IS `GOOD SIGNAL'
In other news, the person who is now really in charge of the negotiations, Euclid Tsakalotos, the Oxford-educated economics professor who as described by the Guardian, now heads up the Greek negotiating team in debt talks, has just made statements saying Greece has to keep to its “red lines” and that any “areas of compromise” should be within the “political plan”.
In other words, the new boss may or may not be the same as the old boss, but the political party line remains, and Syriza is still terrified of disappointing one of the two core parties: either the Troika or its voters, and as a result it will try to appease both until it runs out of all funds.
