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Yanis Varoufakis: 'I prefer to cut my arm off' than agree to the current deal

Jul 2, 2015, 15:49 IST

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis holds a news conference during a Eurozone finance ministers emergency meeting on the situation in Greece in Brussels, Belgium June 27, 2015.REUTERS/Yves Herman

Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis gave a pretty punchy interview on Bloomberg TV on Thursday, during which delivered one of the most colourful quotes of the Greek debt crisis so far.

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Asked if he'd sign bailout proposals that didn't include a restructuring of Greece's debts, he replied: "I prefer to cut my arm off."

"So that's a pretty big red line then," replied the interviewer.

You don't say.

Varoufakis' unequivocal refusal to agree to another "extend and pretend" bailout deal, as he calls them, explains why he's promised to resign as finance minister if Greeks vote in favour of the current proposals in Sunday's referendum.

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In the Bloomberg interview, he also explained why he's so frustrated with the Eurogroup's refusal to let Greece restructure its debts, which even the International Monetary Fund has admitted are unsustainable.

Varoufakis said: "We're a radical left party who's making proposals that any bankruptcy lawyer in New York would sign up to in a jiffy."

Greeks go to the polls on Sunday to vote on whether the country should accept the current bailout deal offered by the Eurogroup. If they do back it, Varoufakis promised Syriza would sign up. You can see more of his comment here.

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