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Tsipras names Marxist libertarian as finance minister

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras today named a radical libertarian as his finance minister, with the uphill task of negotiating a new deal on his country’s debts.

Yanis Varoufakis, a Essex University-trained economist who gave up his teaching career in the United States to join Mr Tsipras’ team in the run-up to Sunday’s general election, was sworn in this afternoon along with the other 39 members of Greece’s new coalition cabinet.

Mr Varoufakis, 53, described by fellow economists as a Keynesian with a touch of Marx, has for months taken a hard line against the punitive terms of Greece’s 2010 bailout on his well-read blog, while also arguing that his country must stay within the euro.

He has also declared war on the Greek