Yanis Varoufakis

Former Minister of Finance for Greece

Ioannis Georgiou "Yanis" Varoufakis is a Greek economist, academic and politician. In January 2015, Varoufakis was appointed as the Minister of Finance, and led negotiation with Greece's creditors during the Greek government-debt crisis. However, he failed to reach an agreement with creditors, leading to the 2015 Greek bailout referendum. The day following the referendum, on 6 July 2015, Varoufakis resigned as Minister of Finance and was replaced by Euclid Tsakalotos. On 24 August, Varoufakis voted against the third bailout package, and in the ensuing September snap election, did not stand for re-election. Varoufakis has since appeared in numerous debates, lectures, and interviews. In February 2016, he launched the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), and subsequently backed a Remain vote in the UK's European Union membership referendum 2016.