Varoufakis will represent Greece at Eurogroup, has gov't backing

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis enjoys the support of the prime minister and will take part in the next meeting of euro zone finance ministers, government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis told reporters on Monday.

"The head of the negotiating team is Mr. Varoufakis, who has the full confidence of the government,» Sakellaridis said.

Varoufakis was sidelined by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in a reshuffle of Greece's negotiating team with EU/IMF lenders last week after coming under heavy criticism at the last meeting of euro zone ministers in Riga.

Sakellaridis also reiterated that Greece's liquidity crunch must be eased soon, caling for help from the European Central Bank or other institutions.

Varoufakis took to Twitter on Monday to insist that he is still in charge of negotiations. He thanked Mohamed El-Erian, the chief economic adviser at Allianz, for a Bloomberg op-ed in which the analyst called the Greek minister «a breath of fresh air in this protracted and exhausting Greek economic drama,» and then added that «Despite wishful thinking-based rumours, I remain FinMin & Greece's negotiator at EG [Eurogroup]!"

[Reuters & Kathimerini]