Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis steps down despite 'no' vote

Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis on Monday morning surprised many with the decision to resign despite the public voting ‘no’ to creditors’ bailout measures.

Varoufakis had last week promised to step down if a ‘yes’ vote came out on top in Sunday’s referendum.

However, in a blog post on Monday, he said: "Soon after the announcement of the referendum results, I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted ‘partners’, for my… ‘absence’ from its meetings; an idea that the Prime Minister judged to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement.

"For this reason I am leaving the Ministry of Finance today," he said, adding that he "shall wear the creditors’ loathing with pride".

Nevertheless, he said the "No" referendum vote was a "majestic, big yes to a democratic Europe".

The minister added that Greek banks would reopen on Tuesday, after they were closed last week and restrictive measures on withdrawals were put on place.

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