Eurogroup’s former President Jeroen Dijsselbloem labelled the handling of the crisis by then Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis as ‘catastrophic’ during a media interview.
Speaking to ANT1 television on Monday, Dijsselbloem added the crisis negotiations were held directly with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to find solutions but were they constantly being undermined by Varoufakis.
Dijsselbloem admitted that the European Union had made mistakes in the management of the Greek economic crisis and said the fiscal adjustment programs for Greece were very strict and their implementation very difficult but noted that Greek politicians were also responsible for many mistakes even before the crisis, as was Germany for its delayed reaction to agreeing to a unified EU plan in order to contain the widespread economic crisis.
The former Eurogroup President expressed optimism for the Greek economy's future and said it would take time for Greece to restore its credibility but added that post-memoranda, Greece now had "the flexibility to apply a more social type of policy."
