Concerned About "Treason" Charges, Varoufakis Issues Public Statement On "Cloak And Dagger" Drachma "Plan B"
27
July, 2015
Over
the weekend, the media world was abuzz with the leaked recording made
during a July 16 "Greek Day" meeting by the Official
Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) which included a
group of sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and life insurers
in which it was reveaked that Yanis Varoufakis had been in the
process of preparing Greece for a cloak
and dagger "Plan
B" which included as its highlight a process for returning to
the Drachma.
Previously
we presentted both the Kathimerini
framing of
this leak, as well as the recording
itself (which
was hardly supposed to be made public).
Overnight,
the Telegraph's
Ambrose-Pritchard reported that
"Mr Varoufakis told the Telegraph that the quotes were accurate
but some reports in the Greek press had been twisted, making it look
as if he had been plotting a return to the drachma from the start.
"The context of all this is that they want to present me as a rogue finance minister,and have me indicted for treason. It is all part of an attempt to annul the first five months of this government and put it in the dustbin of history," he said.
"It totally distorts my purpose for wanting parallel liquidity. I have always been completely against dismantling the euro because we never know what dark forces that might unleash in Europe," he said.
It
remains to be seen if treason charges are forthcoming but Varoufakis
isn't wasting time, and after giving unofficial on the record
comments to the Telegraph, moments ago he issued the following
public statement on his blog......
Statement
by Yanis Varoufakis on the FinMin’s Plan B Working Group & the
parallel payment system
Statement
by the Office of Yanis Varoufakis, former Minister of Finance, Member
of Parliament, Hellenic Republic
During
the Greek government’s negotiations with the Eurogroup, Minister
Varoufakis oversaw a Working Group with a remit to prepare
contingency plans against the creditors’ efforts to undermine the
Greek government and in view of forces at work within the Eurozone to
have Greece expelled from the euro. The Working Group was convened by
the Minister, at the behest of the Prime Minister, and was
coordinated by Professor James K. Galbraith. (Click here for
a statement on the matter by Professor Galbraith).
It
is worth noting that, prior to Mr Varoufakis’ comfirmation of the
existence of the said Working Group, the Minister was criticized
widely for having neglected to make such contingency plans. The Bank
of Greece, the ECB, treasuries of EU member-states, banks,
international organisations etc. had all drawn up such plans since
2012. Greece’s Ministry of Finance would have been remiss had it
made no attempt to draw up contingency plans.
Ever
since Mr Varoufakis announced the existence of the Working Group, the
media have indulged in far-fetched articles that damage the quality
of public debate. The Ministry of Finance’s Working Group worked
exclusively within the framework of government policy and its
recommendations were always aimed at serving the public interest, at
respecting the laws of the land, and at keeping the country in the
Eurozone.
Regarding
the recent article by “Kathimerini” newspaper entitled “Plan B
involving highjacking and hacking”, Kathimerini’s failure to
contact Mr Varoufakis for comment and its reporter’s erroneous
references to “highjacking tax file numbers of all taxpayers”
sowed confusion and contributed to the media-induced disinformation.
The article refers to the Ministry’s project as described by
Minister Varoufakis in his 6th July farewell speech during the
handover ceremony in the Ministry of Finance. In that speech Mr
Varoufakis clearly stated: “The General Secretariat of
Information Systems had begun investigating means by which Taxisnet
(Nb. the Ministry’s Tax Web Interface) could become something more
than it currently is, to become a payments system for third parties,
a system that improves efficiency and minimises the arrears of the
state to citizens and vice versa.” That project was not part
of the Working Group’s remit, was presented in full by Minister
Varoufakis to Cabinet, and should, in Minister Varoufakis’ view, be
implemented independently of the negotiations with Greece’s
creditors, as it will contribute considerable efficiency gains in
transactions between the state and taxpayers as well as between
taxpayers.
In
conclusion, during the five months of negotiations that gripped
Europe and changed the debate throughout the Continent, the Ministry
of Finance did everything possible to serve the public interest
against many odds. The current media campaign to besmirch these
efforts will fail to dent the legacy of a crucial five month struggle
for democracy and common sense.
Professor James K. Galbraith’s statement on the Ministry of Finance Working Group convened by former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis
I spent five months from early February through early July in close association with the Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, and was part of the Working Group that did contingency planning for potential attempts to asphyxiate the Greek government, including aggressive moves to force the country out of the euro. Since a great deal of public confusion has now arisen over this effort, the following should be stated:(1) At no time was the Working Group engaged in advocating exit or any policy choice. The job was strictly to study the operational issues that would arise if Greece were forced to issue scrip or if it were forced out of the euro.
(2) The group operated under the axiom that the government was fully committed to negotiating within the euro, and took extreme precautions not to jeopardize that commitment by allowing any hint of our work to reach the outside world. There were no leaks whatever, until the existence of the group was disclosed by the former Finance Minister himself, in response to criticism that his ministry had made no contingency plans when it was known that forces within the Eurozone were planning the forced exit of Greece.
(3) The existence of preliminary plans could not play any role in the Greek negotiating position, since their circulation (before there was a need to implement them) would have destabilized government policy.
(4) Apart from one late, inconclusive telephone conversation between MP Costas Lapavitsas and myself, we had no coordination with the Left Platform and our Working Group’s ideas had little in common with theirs.
(5) Our work ended for practical purposes in early May, with a long memorandum outlining major issues and scenaria that we studied.
{6) My work in this area was unpaid and unofficial, based on my friendship with Yanis Varoufakis and on my respect for the cause of the Greek people.
Live
updates from the Telegraph
Greece
news live: explosive Varoufakis recording leaked, former minister
says France 'terrified' of Berlin's austerity demands
Audio
recording of Greek plans for a parallel currency are revealed after
former finance minister says Germans used Grexit to "terrorise"
the French
27
July, 2015
• Varoufakis
awaits treason charges over Plan B
• Europe braces itself for a revolutionary Leftist backlash after Greece
• Audio recording of Greek parallel liquidity plans are released
• Stock market set to open with restrictions on Tuesday
• Deposit flight reaches €8bn in June
• Europe braces itself for a revolutionary Leftist backlash after Greece
• Audio recording of Greek parallel liquidity plans are released
• Stock market set to open with restrictions on Tuesday
• Deposit flight reaches €8bn in June
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