Varoufakis says he’ll quit as finance minister after a ‘Yes’ [Update]

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he’ll quit if Greece votes to accept creditors’ bailout proposals in Sunday’s referendum.

In the event of a “yes” vote, “I will not” be finance minister on Monday evening, Varoufakis said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Athens Thursday. “But I will help whoever is” to navigate the country’s debt crisis, he said.

Varoufakis said that he expects Greeks to follow the government’s recommendation to reject the bailout proposals, which would require further tax increases and spending cuts in exchange for continued aid. He said he would “rather cut my arm off” than sign a new accord that doesn’t restructure Greece’s outstanding debt.

“What we’re saying to the Greek people is, ‘no more extend and pretend,’” Varoufakis said. “We want to reform this country…but we want to do it in the context of debt restructure.”

[Bloomberg]