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Within his recently unveiled personal account, named Ithaki, the former prime minister Tsipras pulls no punches while he reflects on that turbulent period of Greece's debt drama.

A Controversial Appointment

According to Tsipras's account, Tsipras selected the maverick economist Yanis Varoufakis as the finance minister primarily because of his international reputation and his “extremely attractive” skills when it came to communicator.

“He was, in reality, more like a personality rather than an economist,” recalled Tsipras.

Conflicting Priorities

The former leader alleges how Varoufakis possessed his own agenda that included advancing his publications and testing out his own game theories using the nation instead of genuinely fighting for its economic stability.

Tsipras wrote how those talks to prevent insolvency were “not just a way of achieving a better deal for the country. They were an experiment, an historic chance to prove the truth of his ideas.”

Critical Negotiations

Amid tense negotiations, Greece came dangerously on the brink of exiting the single currency area.

On the line lay both Greece's destiny and the punishing austerity policies demanded in exchange for bailout funds by international creditors.

Unsuccessful Alternatives

Attempts to find financing elsewhere, such as an urgent plea to the Kremlin to buy Greek government bonds, were rejected.

Assisting Greece was equivalent to tossing cash in the trash-can, Putin is reputed to have informed Tsipras during their meeting.

Referendum Followed by U-Turn

In July 2015, the punitive bailout terms were subjected to a popular referendum, an action which threw the EU into deeper crisis of identity.

Even though the vote was carried resoundingly by those against austerity, Tsipras had little option but to ignore the result and negotiate a bailout package from foreign lenders that turned out to be tougher.

Breaking Point

The ex-PM revealed that he began to doubt his finance minister relatively soon.

“Varoufakis was the public image of negotiation, the figure who attracted publicity, who appeared on the front pages of magazines globally … he gave the impression he relished the spotlight.”

After Varoufakis outlined a contingency plan that included establishing a secondary currency and distributing coupons to pensioners, the leader knew that it was the end questioning him: “Are you serious?”

Lasting Rebuke

Within the memoir, the author asserts how his former ally demonstrated himself to be “unfit for an agreement that required complex and delicate management.”

He also claimed that Varoufakis's confrontational style left him increasingly isolated with colleagues, put Greece at risk, while assisted hawks who were advocating Grexit.

This retelling of history has been met with anger and shock in some quarters, whereas Varoufakis has so far kept a conspicuous quiet on the matter.