The embattled Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, made the rounds in today's headlines as he defiantly declared he would rather cut off his arm than accept a bad deal for Greece, according to a Bloomberg interview. This came on the heels of the latest scrambling to save his country from financial disaster having recently defaulted on its IMF payment.
The deal consists of the creditors' requirement for economic reform and austerity measures in exchange for a badly needed debt relief. Greece is also hoping to secure a bailout extension and an additional €29 billion loan in the aid package to save its economy, which now came to a standstill. Greek banks have imposed €60 withdrawal limits as shops close and basic necessities disappear from stores due to panic buying.
Varoufakis, however, appears to be emboldened by an unpublished document based on a fresh International Monetary Fund study revealing that the Greek debts are unsustainable. The IMF also stated that the country needs at least €54 billion to effectively fix its economy, USA Today reports. Speaking about the coming referendum to determine whether the Greeks want its government to accept the Eurozone's proposed bailout plan, Varoufakis said, "the sirens of destruction are blackmailing you to say 'yes' to everything without any prospect of exiting the crisis," according to USA Today. He offered to resign if the "yes vote" would win.
Recent developments, however, indicate that Varoufakis may be losing support in Greece. Polls reveal that the "yes vote" for the Sunday referendum stands at 47 percent to 43 percent against, reported The Guardian. Former Prime Ministers, Kostas Karamanlis and Antonis Samaras and several government officials have also expressed their support for the yes vote. So the question that begs to be answered is whether Varoufakis has chosen an arm. Come Sunday, the Greeks go out to vote in the bailout referendum.
