Germany: Varoufakis suggests independent Greek tax authority, invites Germans to staff it

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said that he would welcome German tax inspectors setting up an "independent tax authority" in Greece that accepts "no political interference" or "corrupt corporate interests," in an address at the Hans-Boeckler Foundation in Berlin on Monday. He also put forward his opinion that "Germany paid far too much, but for the wrong reasons." Greece received "money that did not help the Greeks - it was never a bailout for Greece - 91 per cent of the money that Europe and the IMF leant to the Greeks went to the banks - Greek banks, German banks, French banks," he added. In a wide-ranging speech the finance minister also called on an agreement on Greece's debt repayment to be reached quickly, or else "history will take it down as a failure of the political class of the European Union." Before the speech, Varoufakis met with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble in an unscheduled meeting, arranged due to the intensifying negotiations of Greek debt. Greece is resisting calls from the institutions (formerly referred to as the Troika - comprising of the IMF, EU and ECB) to maintain austerity policies, with the ruling Syriza party winning a popular mandate to break with the policies. Both Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Varoufakis have condemned the creditors' proposals, with Varoufakis calling them "borderline insulting" and Tsipras calling them "absurd." The line of the Greek authorities drew the ire of European Commissioner Jean-Claude Juncker, who accused Tsipras of misleading his MPs on the position of the institutions. Since Syriza's election, Greek authorities and the institutions have been negotiating for five months to unlock the €7.2 billion ($8 billion) of rescue funds it needs to pay the IMF. The bailout extension ends on June 30. If Greece fails to meet the deadline, it faces default and exit from the Eurozone.