Yanis Varoufakis on defending Greece against Angela Merkel trying to force a "Grexit"

Yanis Varoufakis, who could very possibly be the Greek Finance Minister two weeks from now, discussed his Parliamentary candidacy in an interview with Open Democracy. On the possibility of a "Grexit" (Greek exit from the eurozone), he had the following to say (“Greece will neither want to leave the euro nor threaten to do so” 01/15/2015):

Precisely because of the potential for a ‘SYRIZA/Podemos contagion’ elsewhere in the periphery, the “crush the Greeks” attitude Tim Geithner so graphically described in his account of the outset of the Euro crisis back in 2010 could become a reality – the need to make an example of Greece before the eyes of, say, Spanish citizens. Isn’t that a concern? “Yes. But then again, what should we do?” says Varoufakis.

“Do we want to live in a European Union which sees it as its task to beat proud nations into a pulp so as to keep other nations in a state of debilitating terror? We have faced such dilemmas before and responded magnificently. We must do so again.”

Polls continue to show that Greeks wish to keep the euro as their currency. It is difficult to see SYRIZA truly play hard-ball with Brussels knowing that the scenario in which Greece would abandon the euro is not a real threat. Can a voluntary exit from the EMU be completely ruled out for Greece? According to Varoufakis, there is no “Grexit” card up the sleeve.

“If it is in my power to determine,” he explains, “Greece will neither want to leave the euro nor threaten to do so. We should not have entered the euro – this is crystal clear, but once in, it is disastrous to remove one’s-self from the Eurozone voluntarily.

“That does not mean we should lower our heads and do as we are told lest we are thrown out. No, we should veto misanthropic policies within the euro, demand debt restructuring within the euro, and never give them the opportunity to claim that we opted out of the euro voluntarily. If they want us out, they should kick us out with no help from us. In so doing, however, they will be bringing down their own houses too ...” [my emphasis]

Speaking of my man Yanis, here is the extended version of his interview with Erin Ade on RT America's Boom Bust, Yanis Varoufakis: Why I am running for election in Greece on the SYRIZA ticket 01/12/2015:

Update: Yanis' blog calls this the uncut version, which I believe is the same one I posted earlier this week. But it's worth listening to more than once, Yanis Varoufakis: Why I am running for election in Greece on the SYRIZA ticket 01/13/2015: