European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker‘s statement for a 1.8-billion-euro VAT deviation between Greece and its partners is an effort from the creditors’ side to impose further austerity on Greece, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Wednesday. Varoufakis said that “speculations on a 1.8-billion-euro fiscal gap is part of the Troika’s effort to impose further austerity. We have our doubts on that. We think there is no such fiscal gap.” The Greek Finance Minister also said that “the only reason why the issue of tax on bank transactions has not been raised is our strong opposition and my personal opposition.” (source: ana-mpa)