Video appears to show Greek finance minister giving Germany the ‘stinkefinger’
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis tangled yet again with Berlin after German television aired a 2013 video apparently showed him making a rude gesture toward Europe’s economic powerhouse.
Varoufakis denied brandishing his middle finger - known in Germany as the “stinkefinger” - during a lecture in Croatia where he said Greece should have defaulted in 2010 rather than accept a multi-billion euro bailout package.
“The video was faked, without doubt,” he told German news magazine Der Spiegel’s online edition on Monday.
WATCH: Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis in 2013 (incident at 1:57)
But the video seems clearly to show Varoufakis raising his middle finger to emphasise a point that Greece could “stick the finger” to Berlin.
It was shown on the Guenther Jauch weekly talk show on Germany’s ARD channel late Sunday.
Jauch, the host of the popular eponymously named show that draws millions of viewers, announced at the end of the programme that the video would be examined to try to clear the matter up.
“As far as we know at this stage the editorial department of Guenther Jauch can determine no indication whatsoever of manipulation or falsification in the video shown during the live show,” Jauch said in a statement.
The video showed Varoufakis speaking at an event in the Croatian capital, Zagreb.
Varoufakis has regularly traded barbs with Germany, especially with his irascible counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble, since the leftist Syriza party took power in January pledging to end austerity and renegotiate the bailout terms.
Athens has also urged Germany to pay reparations for the wartime Nazi occupation of Greece, a demand Berlin has rejected.
“My proposal was that Greece should simply announce that it is defaulting ... and stick the finger to Germany and say ‘you can now solve this problem by yourself’,” Varoufakis says on the video, raising his middle finger.
Confronted with the video, Varoufakis told ARD: “I have never given the finger ever.”
Appearing on the same show, Bavaria’s state finance minister Markus Soeder said straight out that Varoufakis was lying.
“It is getting more and more difficult to accept Mr Varoufakis as a serious partner in negotiations,” he told the online edition of business daily Handelsblatt.
A Marxist economist, Varoufakis has surprised many European capitals with his unconventional approach, appearing to question Greece’s commitment to honour past pledges in interviews.
He also raised eyebrows by appearing in the glossy French magazine Paris Match, enjoying a meal with his wife on the terrace of their upmarket flat overlooking the Acropolis - a prime location in Athens.
Varoufakis later said he regretted the photoshoot but not the interview. There was little reaction in Greece, where unemployment has soared above 25 per cent and output tumbled during recent years of budget rigour.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman denied last week any “personal feud” with Athens existed, but Berlin’s patience is clearly running out. Schaeuble said last week he could not rule out an accidental Greek exit from the single European currency.
Last week Athens complained to Berlin, saying Schaeuble had insulted Varoufakis at a news conference. The German minister denied the accusation.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
