ATHENS -- Euclid Tsakalotos, chief coordinator of Greece's negotiating team over a debt deal with lenders, took over on Monday evening as new Finance Minister on the eve of a crucial euro zone summit that could decide the country's fate.
Tsakalotos, Deputy Foreign Minister of International Economic Affairs, until Monday replaced Yanis Varoufakis who resigned a few hours after Greek voters said a resounding "NO" to the creditors' proposal in a critical referendum on Sunday.
"Sunday's message with NO garnering 61 percent of votes will be part of the Economic History regardless of what happens from now on," the 55-year-old Professor of Economics said during a handover ceremony at the Finance Ministry after being sworn in at the Presidential mansion.
"I believe something can be done to change Europe," he said referring to the new round of talks with lenders, stressing that the Greek government wanted to continue the dialogue seeking a viable solution on better terms for Greek people.
As Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was preparing to travel to Brussels to present his counterparts Greece's new proposals for an imminent deal to stave off a looming default and possible Grexit, Tsakalotos admitted his agony since he is assuming duties in a most difficult period for Greece.
Since last Wednesday the country is in arrears to the International Monetary Fund, without the bailout program which kept it afloat since 2010 and with cash running out of banks this week despite the introduction of capital controls and a banks' holiday over the past week.
Without an agreement with lenders officials and analysts in Greece and abroad see a catastrophic financial meltdown that could lead to the country's exit from the European common currency zone.
The change at the helm of the finance ministry may improve the climate of cooperation between the two sides, media commentators noted on Monday.
Outspoken Varoufakis over the past six months of negotiations has been presented by his critics as an obstacle to reach a deal.
In his resignation letter released earlier on Monday he claimed that he was stepping down to allow Tsipras to capitalize on Sunday's outcome and clinch a good deal with lenders, because some of Greece's interlocutors were annoyed by his stance in the negotiations.
"All these months what we tried to do was to light a small candle instead of cursing for the darkness," Varoufakis said wishing Tsakalotos best success.
Tsipras had appointed the mild-mannered Tsakalotos as chief coordinator of Greece's negotiating team in April in a bid to ease tensions fuelled by Varoufakis' personal fierce arguments with several European officials.
Born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the British educated Tsakalotos, with studies at the Universities of Oxford and Sussex and an academic career in Britain and Greece, is considered as a Marxist ideologist who strongly supports Greece's membership in the euro zone and the EU. Enditem
