Tensions have been rising in Greece as the country inches closer to running out of money.
A big source of that tension has been Yanis Varoufakis, Greece’s finance minister. He’s been holding a hard line against certain reforms and preconditions for bailout funds from the European Union and other groups, to the great frustration of his negotiating counterparts. But now he’s being reined in, as prime minister Alexis Tsipras and deputy foreign minister Euclid Tsakalotos step in to take a more active role in negotiations.
Bloomberg reports that negotiators lost their patience with Varoufakis after a testy meeting in Riga, Latvia on April 24. Countries such as Latvia and Slovakia were especially irked by his demands, given the harsh austerity measures they have adopted in the past, similar to those Greece is resisting. But now that Varoufakis has been pulled back, hopes are higher for some sort of resolution, and Greek stocks soared more than 4% today.
