ND renews call for Plan X inquiry as Galbraith points to PM’s role

Greece’s conservative opposition has reiterated a demand for a parliamentary inquiry into the events leading up to the country’s third bailout agreement and, in particular, the so-called Plan X, a contingency scheme hammered out by former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis to be activated in case Greece exited the euro area.

New Democracy’s request came after an op-ed in the Efimerida ton Syntakton newspaper on Saturday in which Varoufakis and his former adviser US economist James Galbraith defended Greece’s need for a contingency blueprint, adding that it was ordered by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

In a statement on Saturday, ND said the two had effectively confirmed the existence of a plan, requested by the PM, that foresaw Greece’s euro exit. “The question now is what does Tsipras have to say about all this?” ND said while calling for “truth and transparency.”

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Sunday edition of Kathimerini, Galbraith, who recently made headlines after releasing a book in which he describes in detail Varoufakis’s plan for moving Greece to a parallel banking system last year, confirmed that the request for a plan came from the top.

“We understood that the finance minister was carrying out instructions on behalf of the PM,” Galbraith told Kathimerini.

Asked whether he was troubled at the idea of inviting the Hellenic Army to maintain order during a shaky financial transition, as specified in the plan, Galbraith says, “Of course; we were deeply troubled by the many possible social, economic and political disruptions.”

“These were indeed, in many ways, our principal concerns,” he said, adding however that no Defense Ministry officials were present at the meetings.