Varoufakis: Third bailout spells end of Tsipras govt; SYRIZA stimulus, spending plan 'nonsense'

The controversial previous Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, on Friday continued his verbal barrage against his former comrades in the current government and leftist SYRIZA party, forecasting that the third bailout will spell the end of the former, in the same fashion that the first and second memorandums doomed previous Greek governments.

The self-described "erratic Marxist" shot to the international limelight over the six months he served as the Tsipras coalition government's chief negotiator in failed negotiations with creditors. His tenure ended with capital controls imposed in the country and the holding of a controversial and convoluted referendum over an agreement extended by creditors and then taken off the table.

In comments during a television interview on the Athens-based Skai television station, Varoufakis said a welfare spending and stimulus package announced by SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras in 2014, months before the snap January 2015 election, was "nonsense".

Referring to the so-called "Thessaloniki program", named after the city where Tsipras unveiled it, Varoufakis said he received assurances that it would not be implemented once SYRIZA had assumed power, while if he assumed the minister's post, he would not be bound by the pre-election pledge.

In continuing to step up his attack, the mercurial Varoufakis said he successor as the leftist-rightist government's finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, did not engage in negotiations over the latest agreement to conclude a second review of the Greek program, but merely "surrendered".

"Now, they (government) will pass things that my own colleagues (Parliament deputies) a few weeks ago said were unconstitutional," he charged.