Greece’s new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has pleaded with Germany not to humiliate the country over its debts. Mr Varoufakis compared Greece’s challenge with that of inter-war Germany, this he said ahead of a meeting with his German counterpart. BBC reports:
Germany was burdened with massive debts after World War One and threatened by hyper-inflation, crippling its economy. Mr Varoufakis has been touring European capitals this week to win support for Greece’s plan to restructure its debt.
In an interview with German ARD television, Mr Varoufakis said: “I think of the countries in Europe, the Germans understand best this simple message. “If you humiliate a proud nation for too long and subject it to the worry of a debt deflation crisis, without light at the end of a tunnel then things come to the boil.”
The comparison is likely to send a clear message to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble ahead of his meeting with Mr Varoufakis on Thursday. Germany is seen as the strongest opponent among eurozone countries to any reduction of Greece’s 323bn euro (£242bn/$369bn) debt.
