They're both urbane English-speaking academics, cut from the same ideological cloth, and both have been deeply involved in months of negotiations with Greece's international lenders. But by replacing Yanis Varoufakis with Euclid Tsakalotos at the head of Greece's finance ministry, prime minister Alexis Tsipras has signalled a symbolic shift in his approach to the crisis.
After six months that made him one of the most recognisable personalities in European politics but which were marked by strains in his relationships with European colleagues, Mr Varoufakis said Mr Tsipras asked him to step aside to enhance the Greek government's chances of securing a deal with creditors. He was a hero to Syriza supporters, but in recent weeks he became a lightning rod among Greece's lenders for his confrontational approach as efforts to strike a financial aid deal foundered. Before the referendum vote, he publicly accused the creditors of "terrorism" against Greece.
“I was made aware of a certain ‘preference’ by some eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my . . . ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the prime minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement,” Mr Varoufakis said. By lunchtime, he had zoomed out of the finance ministry on his motorbike.
Opposites
Mr Varoufakis and Mr Tsakalotos are temperamental opposites. Where the former is combative and charismatic, his successor is soft-spoken and discreet. Mr Tsipras may well be hoping the change will improve the atmosphere around the eurogroup conference table.
But, on policy, the change will ensure continuity. Mr Tsakalotos, who, like Mr Varoufakis, does not belong to the anti-euro faction within Syriza, has been closely involved in talks with the Europeans and the IMF in recent months. At the end of April, he was appointed to head a political negotiating team. His is close to Mr Tsipras and has firmer roots in the party than Mr Varoufakis. ‘
Great realignment’
Steeped in left-wing politics, he has been a sharp critic of austerity. Addressing the Sinn Féin Ardfheis in March, Mr Tsakalotos said Syriza, Sinn Féin and Spain’s Podemos were “part of a great realignment in European politics”.
"Some European governments will be arguing that we should not give problematic Greeks special treatment," Mr Tsakalotos told the gathering. "You know that we are not asking for special treatment but for equal treatment in a Europe of equals."
