Greece finance minister says he’ll quit if voters back bailout

Tsipras’ government has been exhorting Greeks this week to vote no in the referendum, which, while couched in confusing language, effectively asks whether the nation is willing to accept more austerity in exchange for billions of euros that the country needs to return to solvency.

After a remarkable series of twists and turns in negotiations with creditors this week, the proposal on which Greeks will be voting is no longer even on the table, as the bailout package expired Tuesday night.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday, Varoufakis said that he would not remain finance minister after a yes vote, but that he would help his successor steer Greece out of its debt crisis.

In many ways, Tsipras’ negotiating tactics have always been about achieving his government’s overarching goal of reducing Greece’s debt burden, which Varoufakis has argued time and again is unsustainable.

Ashoka Mody, a visiting professor in international economic policy at Princeton University, agreed, saying Greece’s creditors need to write down the country’s debt by perhaps half and stop insisting that the Greek government cut spending and raise taxes, the Associated Press reported.

By continuing to accept bailouts with austerity conditions, Varoufakis argued in an interview after being installed as finance minister in January, Greece has piled debt on top of debt, while subjecting its people to “fiscal waterboarding, where we are constantly having our head held under water.”