JUNE 9 (Reuters) – Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis says a cash-for-reforms deal is needed quickly, and that it is Europe’s collective duty to find a solution to Greece’s debt crisis.
SHOWS: BERLIN, GERMANY (JUNE 8, 2015) (REUTERS – ACCESS ALL)
1. FRENCH CATHEDRAL IN BERLIN’S GENDARMENMARKT SQUARE
2. VARIOUS OF ANTI-AUSTERITY PROTESTERS
3. GREEK FINANCE MINISTER YANIS VAROUFAKIS ARRIVING AND WALKING UP STEPS
4. VAROUFAKIS ENTERING ROOM AND TAKING SEAT
5. VAROUFAKIS SITTING
6. VAROUFAKIS CHATTING THEN LEAVING SEAT
7. AUDIENCE LISTENING
8. VAROUFAKIS SPEAKING ON STAGE
9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREEK FINANCE MINISTER, YANIS VAROUFAKIS, SAYING:
“What we need is an agreement quickly. We need to avert an accident that won’t be an accident – history is not going to take it down as an accident. History will take it down as a failure of the political class of the European Union – of me, of Dr Schaeuble, of Mrs Merkel, of Alexis Tsipras, of Mr Juncker, of the whole political class – we have a historic duty not to allow this to happen.”
10. AUDIENCE LISTENING
11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREEK FINANCE MINISTER, YANIS VAROUFAKIS, SAYING:
“But ladies and gentlemen, for every irresponsible borrower – and by golly, Greece was an irresponsible borrower – there corresponds an irresponsible lender. This is why there is no profit to be had today from thinking about debt in moralistic terms. We, together, we Europeans, built an asymmetric monetary union with rules that guaranteed the generation of unsustainable debt – this is how we constructed it. We are all responsible for it, jointly, collectively, as Europeans, and we are all collectively responsible for fixing it.”
12. VAROUFAKIS SPEAKING
13. AUDIENCE LISTENING
14. (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREEK FINANCE MINISTER, YANIS VAROUFAKIS, SAYING:
“We created the euro zone because the French feared the Germans, because the Italians wanted to be like the Germans, the Spanish wanted to be like the French, the Portuguese wanted to escape the Spanish, the Irish wanted to escape the British, the Greeks hated the Turks – which is not true – the Belgians wanted to join up both Holland and France, and in the end the Germans feared the Germans. (LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE.) Now, I don’t believe in this. I am only mentioning it because it’s funny, but I think it’s wrong.”
15. VAROUFAKIS SPEAKING
16. AUDIENCE LISTENING / VAROUFAKIS SPEAKING
STORY: Greece and its lenders need to seal an agreement on a cash-for-reforms deal urgently, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Monday (June 8), adding that European leaders had an “historic duty” to act.
“What we need is an agreement quickly. We need to avert an accident that won’t be an accident – history is not going to take it down as an accident,” Varoufakis said during a speech on “Greece’s future in the EU” in Berlin.
“History will take it down as a failure of the political class of the European Union – of me, of Dr Schaeuble, of Mrs Merkel, of Alexis Tsipras, of Mr Juncker, of the whole political class – we have a historic duty not to allow this to happen,” he said.
The Greek government has said it is ready to negotiate a settlement acceptable to both sides by the end of this month, when Greece’s bailout programme expires and the country faces the prospect of defaulting on its debts.
Varoufakis said Europe had a joint responsibility to solve a crisis it had created itself.
“We, together, we Europeans, built an asymmetric monetary union with rules that guaranteed the generation of unsustainable debt – this is how we constructed it. We are all responsible for it, jointly, collectively, as Europeans, and we are all collectively responsible for fixing it,” he said.
True to form, the finance minister played to the crowd with a tongue-in-cheek explanation for the creation of the euro zone.
“We created the euro zone because the French feared the Germans, because the Italians wanted to be like the Germans, the Spanish wanted to be like the French, the Portuguese wanted to escape the Spanish, the Irish wanted to escape the British, the Greeks hated the Turks – which is not true – the Belgians wanted to join up both Holland and France, and in the end the Germans feared the Germans,” he said to laughter and applause, before adding that he did not actually believe in this theory.
Outside the venue for the speech in Berlin’s picturesque Gendarmenmarkt square, protesters had gathered calling for solidarity with Greece and the cancelling of its debts.