For the past three months, Greece’s finance minister extraordinaire Yanis (with one ‘n’) Varoufakis has been the talk of every town, from Los Angeles to Adelaide and from Kiev to Cape Town. Even Germany — Greece’s biggest lender and harsh critic — has shown love for the man who loves to perplex. Yanis Varoufakis has been included in lists of ‘most manly’, ‘most sexy’, ‘most controversial’, ‘most elegant’, ‘most discussed’ and other ‘most’ categories. Yet, and unfortunately for Greece, he has not been included in the ‘most productive finance minister’ list. When he first appeared on the scene, Varoufakis was a true firebrand. His statements became conversation pieces, his self-descriptions were marveled at, his economic theories were admired by many. Leaving his aversion to ties aside, for three months he was above criticism, beyond good and evil in macroeconomics analysis. His bold theorizing, his ‘creative vagueness,’ his clever remarks became an end in itself. From a certain point on, his participation in Eurogroup sessions or other official meetings became mere show appearances along the lines : Tonight, for one night only, at the Eurogroup in Brussels, Mr. Yaniiiiiiis Varoufakiiiiiiiiis. Varoufakis became a trade mark. From some point on it was as if his main goal was to dazzle. Whether it was U.S. President Barack Obama or a housewife in Wuppertal, everyone would have something to say about the extravagant Greek finance minister. At some point, though, everyone started to forget what all that dazzling was about. Was it to hide the new government’s unwillingness to accept the rules of world economy? Its unwillingness to leave populist rhetoric aside and draft a viable economic plan that would drag Greek economy out of the quagmire? From a certain point on, Varoufakis seemed to forget who he was representing. A government that basks in Marxist fantasies? A population that is used to eating caviar on a hotdog budget? People who believe in heroic acts of self-destruction as if we are still in 1821? Government officials who think that isolationism and a return to the drachma will be the cure for all? All of the sudden, people from both sides of the negotiation table started demanding his head on a plate. His peers were frustrated, angered that when they were asking for hard figures or solid economic policies, he was replying with theories. When they were asking for specifics, he was switching to the role of economics professor and was lecturing them. Not very diplomatic. At the home front, several SYRIZA cabinet members never stopped showing their disapproval of Varoufakis by making opposing statements. While he was talking about the importance of staying in the euro zone, Deputy Finance Minister Euclides Tsakalotos was preaching the benefits of the drachma in Ireland. Others were indirectly urging the prime minister to forget the negotiations and come to a head-on collision with Europe. At the end, Varoufakis started representing himself. After Friday’s Eurogroup and the behind-the-curtains hammering he received from his peers, he refused to go to dinner with the rest of the euro zone finance ministers. It was a faux pas of grand scale. Not only did he breach protocol, but he showed lack of political experience. He forgot that sometimes you achieve more at the dinner table than inside a conference hall. His reaction to the criticism he received was equal to the narcissism he has exhibited so far. He quoted Franklin D. Roosevelt: “They are unanimous in their hate for me, and I welcome their hatred.” It was an immature statement and possibly an admittance of defeat. The inevitable fall came today when Alexis Tsipras expressed his support to him while at the same time he appointed a new negotiating team with Varoufakis at the helm but Tsakalotos as coordinator. It was a silent demotion that made many SYRIZA hard leftists cheer. Varoufakis is now officially off the pedestal. How the mighty have fallen.
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