EU, troika subjecting Greece to terrorism: Finance minister

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has slammed the European Union and the international lenders for attempting to “humiliate” his nation, saying their treatment of Greece’s debt crisis amounts to “terrorism.”

“What they’re doing with Greece has a name — terrorism,” Varoufakis told the Spanish El Mundo daily in an interview published on Saturday, referring to the 28-nation bloc and the threefold lenders of the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB).

“What Brussels and the troika want today is for the ‘yes’ (vote) to win so they could humiliate the Greeks,” he noted on the eve of a referendum called by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on whether the government should agree to the lenders’ demands for tough austerity reforms in return for bailout funds.

Greece received two bailout packages in 2010 and 2012 worth a total of EUR 240 billion (USD 272 billion) from its creditors following its 2009 economic crisis in return for implementing harsh austerity measures.

The country is seeking a third bailout in the hope of resolving its deepening financial crisis.

The government has been rallying the public to vote “No” in the Sunday plebiscite. Tsipras says the vote is needed to force creditors to finally accept his key demand for a new round of debt relief to save Greece from the financial crisis.

However, Germany, France, Italy and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker have all said a ‘No’ vote would negatively impact Greece’s place in the eurozone, and maybe even in the European Union.