(AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis). People wait for a soup kitchen to open, organized daily by the municipality of Athens, Monday, July 27, 2015.
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However, the plan to pass sweeping austerity measures in return for up to €86bn in new loans was rejected by majority of the party’s 149 lawmakers.
Greece’s commitment to the euro came under fresh scrutiny yesterday when it emerged that senior government ministers had secretly planned a return to the drachma.
Crucial talks over the bailout were due to have started last Friday, but a number of factors – neither diplomatic nor logistical – meant that they have been delayed.
The plan was denounced by Greek opposition parties, which in recent weeks have called for Varoufakis to be put on trial for treason.
Although Yanis Varoufakis, the former finance minister, and Panagiotis Lafazanis, the former energy minister, have been sacked, the legacy of their plots has pushed Mr Tsipras into a new bout of turmoil.
He went on to elaborate on plans to hack into his own ministry’s software to copy tax systems code, saying he had recruited a childhood friend who was a software expert to help with the planning.
“Is it true that a designated team in the finance ministry had undertaken work on a backup plan?”
Varoufakis, who said in the teleconference that Tsipras had given him the green light a month before the ruling Syriza party’s victory in January, took to social media to react to the latest revelations. And he insisted that his actions were legal, in the public interest and aimed at keeping the country in the 19-country eurozone. “Take the case of the first few moments when the banks are shut, the ATMs don’t function and there has to be some parallel payment system by which to keep the economy going for a little while, to give the population the feel that the state is in control and that there is a plan”.
Varoufakis confirmed the authenticity of the recording, which was released by the briefing organizers, London-based Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum.
As preparations begin for the talks on Tuesday, there is no guarantee the Greek Government can implement the package, without serious civil unrest.
Tsipras had apparently indicated that a party congress should be held in September to refocus Syriza and the news agency does not rule out early elections in either September, October or November, given the “inevitable” upheaval within the party.
The most disturbing part of Varoufakis’ call transcript is where the former finance minister hints at a plan to strip European countries of their financial sovereignty.
After passing a series of reforms demanded by creditors, such as steep sales tax hikes, the Greek government is hoping negotiations will be completed by August. 20 when the country has a big debt repayment of around 3.2 billion euros ($3.5 billion) to make to the European Central Bank.
The move was said to enable payment of pensions and public sector wages, if Greece had to exit the Euro.
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Tsipras, who remains popular with the nation but seems to be losing his grip on Syriza, said on Monday the party had to “regroup” and “clarify” its strategy.
