In the interview, Varoufakis pointed out that the two main demands in the agreement for the next four months includes the "safeguarding of a sufficient liquidity in the internal market with immediate lifting of the restrictions imposed by ECB on the short-term banks and state lending as well as the normal flow of tax revenues".
Continuing with SYRIZA's wordplay, Varoufakis said that the Memorandum, (as a text of Troika's strict orders for perpetual austerity, internal devaluation and financial suffocation), does not exist any more.
"Citizens can live now without the fear of mass layoffs, continuous cutbacks on salaries and pensions and of the irrational, abusive and unfair overtaxation on non- existent incomes or depreciated assets".He said that "there is not possibility to return to the debt serfdom state" adding that the "relief-solution for the debt that SYRIZA is planning to propose does not want any sacrifices from the Greek or the European tax payers.
ECB has no excuse not to restore liquidity to Greek banks
Turning to other matters, Varoufakis said the European Central Bank has no excuse not to restore liquidity to Greek banks as the government has kept its part of the deal by signing the extension of its loan agreement, according to an interview published in the Greek press on Sunday.
Greek banks are being kept afloat through the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) lifeline extended by the Bank of Greece, subject to approval by the ECB. The ELA pool, which currently stands at 68.3 billion euros ($78 billion), is extended to solvent lenders as a temporary measure to cover liquidity shortages. The bank has suspended the eligibility of Greek sovereign debt as collateral for its liquidity operations, since February 11th, saying Greece had not completed its bailout programme.
Varoufakis said that for Greece to enter a safe path, at least in the transitional period of the next four months, it has to ensure the domestic market is sufficiently funded by lifting the limitations imposed by the ECB in the state and the banks' short-term borrowing ability.
"We insist that our commitment to extend the loan agreement with the specific reform programme we agreed upon, removes the final lawful argument presented by the Eurozone's institutions who required us to enter a 'programme' in order to lift limitations in the financial support of our banking system," Varoufakis was quoted as saying to Ethnos daily.
The minister also rejected any notion of signing a third bailout programme, as it has been reported in the media. "There isn't the slightest chance of returning to a status of debt serfdom, no matter how much the opposition tries to sweeten such a possibility," he said.
Reference in Greek - To Ethnos
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