The administration appears to be backing down from the confrontational tone it has taken with the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Yannis Stournaras in recent days, which saw various SYRIZA officials accuse the BoG leadership of operating against the government.
Now the government spokesperson has sought to play down the tensions, stating that the government fully respects the independence of the central bank and that it had no problem with the leadership of Yannis Stournaras.
The spokesperson said that recent criticism of Stournaras by SYRIZA officials concerned his acts in his previous role as Finance Minister and not his tenure as BoG governor.
Specifically Panagiotis Lafazanis had criticized Stournaras for his role in the sale of the Agricultural Bank (Agrotiki) to the Bank of Piraeus which critics have denounced as a sweetheart deal. The sale of the bank took place while Stournaras was Finance Minister.
The change in tone from the government appears to have been prompted by leaks reported by Bloomberg that the ECB viewed the government’s attacks on the BoG and its governor as a particularly negative development.
A short while ago the Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis referred to the BoG following a question from the Independent Greeks MP, Nikos Nikolopoulos that was highly critical of Stournaras. In response Varoufakis merely stated that ‘the Finance Ministry respects the independence of the Bank of Greece but this independence applies for both sides.’
Varoufakis avoided making any comment about Stournaras’s actions but said that the Bank of Greece must make sure ‘not to interfere via comments in the government’s work.’
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