Activists in anti-austerity protest outside Goldman Sachs International. Demotix/ Mark Kerrison. All rights reserved.In a recently released recording of a teleconference between Yanis Varoufakis and a group of hedge fund managers, Mr Varoufakis spoke frankly about the Grexit contingency plans he had developed when he was the Finance Minister. This “plan B” involved some fancy financial innovations and some carefully concealed information gathering operations. By these means Greece’s Finance Ministry was able to think about emergency alternatives to the Euro, without letting Brussels know what it was doing.
This story is presently causing something of a furore in the international media. One inference flying around is that Mr Varoufakis’ plan B illustrates his untrustworthy nature. For this interpretation, the Eurogroup’s unrelenting suspicions of Varoufakis is seen as further justified. If Varoufakis was prepared to use covert and arguably unlawful methods in his contingency planning, this evidences his character flaws even more than his narcissistic hair-cut and his irritating habit of lecturing the Eurogroup on economic fundamentals. Obviously, the man cannot be trusted.
Interestingly, the discourse of trust is a significant political football in the Eurozone at present. But the absence of trustworthiness is not the real problem with his plan B.
