Greek finance minister resigns

Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis resigned after European participants who arrived in Italy to join a meeting following Greek referendum, expressed preference for his absence, Italian media reported on Monday. The surprise resignation of Varoufakis comes ahead of the meeting between eurozone leaders to discuss their next steps following the victory of ‘no’ in the referendum. That could of course make things easier for Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras in any discussions with his peers. Varoufakis himself said as much: “I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings.” Over the weekend he had accused Greece’s European creditors of “terrorism.” And in keeping with his tenure as finance minister he ended with a jibe at his tormentors: “I shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride.” His departure was not the first in the wake of the ‘No’ vote – Sunday Antonis Samaras, the head of the opposition right-wing New Democracy party who campaigned for the yes side, stepped down. But the decision by the motorcycle-riding, game-playing Varoufakis has far more significance, as shown by the fact the euro recovered some of its lost ground in the wake of the announcement, according to Guardian.