Yanis Varoufakis, the Greek finance minister, on Thursday once again demonstrated his flair for inflaming the debate about his country’s economic future.
He made statements at an Athens conference that were interpreted — falsely, he later insisted — as a threat not to pay billions of euros that Greece owes to the European Central Bank.
But Mr. Varoufakis did not backpedal from separate comments he made to the Greek Parliament on Thursday, saying that the “soul†of the central bank’s president, Mario Draghi, was “filled with fear†at the thought of giving Greece a break on its debts, because of the potential reaction among hard-liners in Germany.
Mr. Varoufakis’s remarks are unlikely to endear him to the central bank at a time when Greece needs its help to avoid economic collapse. The central bank’s Governing Council is already weary of what some of its members regard as irresponsible behavior by Mr. Varoufakis and other members of Greece’s leftist government.
Far from giving Greece a break, the Governing Council is expected to tighten the screws next Wednesday by placing further restrictions on emergency cash the central bank provides to keep the Greek banking system from collapsing.
Whatever Mr. Varoufakis meant to say on Thursday, Greece will continue to scramble to make debt payments in coming months as it tries to avoid a default and a potential forced march from the euro currency union.
