“At the thousandth”: when Tsipras “emptied” Varoufakis (video)
The backstage of 2015 comes to life in SKAI’s new documentary series, “In Chiliost”, which consists of six episodes and is based on the book “The …
News Room
5 May 2026
The behind-the-scenes of 2015 comes to life in SKAI’s new documentary series, “In the Hill”, consisting of six episodes and based on the book “The Last Bluff” by Eleni Varvitsiotis and Victoria Dendrinou.
The two journalists don’t just recount the events, as they were in Brussels in 2015 as correspondents, closely following developments and recording minute-by-minute negotiations with lenders.
The first episode returns to early 2015, when the Syriza and ANEL take over the governance of the country, with narratives from figures such as Nikos Pappas, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, Euclid Tsakalotos, Panagiotis Lafazanis and Giorgos Stathakis.
“When I came out of my house in Chania, I realized that one in two Chanians had voted for SYRIZA,” recalled Giorgos Stathakis, who served as the government’s development minister in 2015-2016.
“I never had it in my mind that we would achieve something like this. I had the image of participating in a party that would try, in one way or another, to put out an agenda, to mobilise some people, possibly to participate in a government as a partner, small,” describes the then Minister of State, Nikos Pappas. “Something happened that was forbidden until then. A body that was of the historical left, of the communist tradition, took a position of government,” he summarizes.
The causes of the economic crisis
The journalistic investigation briefly discusses the causes that led Greece to the economic crisis, while stressing that there were distortions and manipulations of the fiscal data to present them in a way that facilitated the accession to the euro, creating a fragile background.
The opportunity for SYRIZA
“I think the crisis played a very big role in the rise of SYRIZA,” Euclid Tsakalotos, finance minister in charge of negotiations with the institutions from July 2015 to July 2019.
It was back when then-Syriza president Alexis Tsipras was talking about abolishing the memoranda “with one law and one article.”
Commenting on this statement today, Panagiotis Lafazanis, Greece’s Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy in 2015, reveals that he himself believed, and expressed to Alexis Tsipras himself, this belief, that this slogan is demagogical, populist, and cheap.
In fact, recalling the programme presented by the future prime minister at the Thessaloniki International Fair, he admitted that “we thought he was airing at the moment but…. the ears below were very happy” since “the applause covered everything” and “in applause we are first, here in the country”.
For his part, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos, who served as the prime minister’s secretary general in 2015-2016 and minister of state and government spokesman from 2016 to 2019, believes that the programme presented then at the TIF could have been feasible under another economic strategy that set other priorities.
For Euclid Tsakalotos, deputy foreign minister and finance minister after Varoufakis’ resignation, the effectiveness of the announcements made at that TIF was a function of both how quickly Syriza would reach an agreement with the lenders and how quickly there would be an agreement specifically on surpluses and debt.
Himself, however, recognises as a mistake the decision “not to vote for the Prime Minister and to bring down the Samaras-Venizelos government”, since this did not, as a result, facilitate subsequent economic policy.
SYRIZA in power
On 25 January 2015, SYRIZA came to power by forming a coalition government with Panos Kamenos’ Independent Greeks.
“This new government was welcomed by many. In Northern Europe, say, or the rest of Europe. We expected a new approach from a government that would take the fight against corruption more seriously. I would say clearly that the rest of Europe was very open to listen to what the new government wanted and to continue working together,” summarises Claus Regling, managing director of the European Financial Stability Fund from 2012 to 2022.
Persons such as then-Eurogroup headGerun Dijsselbloemand officialTomas Wieserhave described the climate of both caution and concern towards the new Greek government.
Finance Minister Giannis Varoufakis has played a central role in the developments, and has been bringing tension to the negotiations from the very first moment.
According to Nikos Pappas, the fact that the government had discussed a specific strategy regarding the negotiations but “what was agreed” was not followed is indicative.
Thomas Wieser’s description of the former finance minister is characteristic. As he says, he had never – until then – heard his name, as Yanis Varoufakis was less well known in the world of econometrics than we were led to believe.
In fact, he adds that he did not even have to bother to find out anything about his person since Varoufakis himself was so careful to talk and express himself so excessively that no one needed to know anything more about him.
In any case, Mr. Wieser stressed that Europe had clearly shown its intention to help Greece, to the extent it could, to stay within the Union and the Euro.
However, as the president of the Eurogroup from 2013 to 2018, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, points out, on the other side there was a new finance minister who said “we were all crazy and that the approach, in recent years, was wrong.”
In fact, based on this, some of the European partners, he recalls, advised him not to go to Athens.
“Some, such as Wolfgang Schaeuble, for example, thought it would look bad if we went to Athens,” Mr. Wieser comments.
“I think he thought it was clear which side was the one asking for something and which side was in a position to say yes or no. It was about a show of force,” he concludes, underlining that he himself did not agree with this, understanding that the new government came to power democratically – with the vote of the people – and thus Europe had to cooperate with it.
As for the meeting at the finance ministry, Mr. Dijsselbloem recalls a particularly strange atmosphere, with the building almost empty. After the friendly initial discussions, the then Eurogroup president was struck by Mr Varoufakis’s intention to sack hundreds of ministry employees, as he felt he could not trust them.
The episodic press conference
Giannis Stournaras revealed that after Yanis Varoufakis’ episode with Jeroen Dijsselbloem in front of the cameras, when the then finance minister also called the Troika a flimsy committee with which the government had no intention of cooperating, he contacted then Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who wondered: “He said such a thing. What can we do now?”
Then, as Yannis Stournaras revealed, he was given the phone number of Mario Draghi, whom the then prime minister contacted, assuring him that what the then finance minister said, that they had no intention of cooperating with the troika, was not true.
“All this was of course said in Greek, so I could hear the tone of his voice, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying,” he described, adding that, for some reason, the interpretation was delayed for a long time.
“So I found myself sitting next to a guy who was undoing everything I was trying to do to calm everyone down and have a constructive discussion.”
