News Digest

Greeks name radical anti-bailout economist as new finance minister

Greece has named radical left-wing economist Yanis Varoufakis as its new finance minister, giving him the mammoth task of leading negotiations with international creditors over the country’s bailout. The appointment of Varoufakis is seen as a signal that the new anti-austerity Syriza-led government will take a hard line in haggling over the 240-billion-euro (£179 billion) EU-IMF package. Varoufakis, 53, is a vocal critic of the conditions imposed on Greece in return for the bailout granted in 2010 and argues the country can never recover economically until they are relaxed.

As the next finance minister, I can assure you that I shall not go into the Eurogroup seeking a solution that is good for the Greek taxpayer and bad for the Irish, Slovak, German, French and Italian taxpayer.

Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, speaking to an Irish radio station

Varoufakis was the most eye-catching appointment in 40-year-old Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ new cabinet. Panos Kammenos was named defence minister in return for leading his small nationalist Independent Greeks (ANEL) party into a coalition government with Syriza. Kammenos threatens to be a controversial member of the government because of his claims that Germany is the main cause of Greece’s economic misery. The first foreign dignitary to visit Greece since Syriza took power will be the social democrat head of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, on Thursday.