After being sworn in, Euclid Tsakalotos made no secret of his anxieties regarding his new position during this critical time in the country’s history.
“I cannot hide from you that I am quite nervous. I am not taking on this job at the easiest point in Greek history,” he said with a degree of understatement.
The 55-year-old received a private school education at London’s St Paul’s, after which he went on to study at Oxford University.
There he pursued his undergraduate studies in politics, philosophy and economics, returning to the institution in 1989 to complete his PhD in economics.
A member of SYRIZA for almost a decade, Tsakalotos has served as an MP in the Greek parliament since 2012.
So far he has pushed the notion of debt relief and sustainable structural reforms as fiercely as Varoufakis, but avoided his predecessor’s predeliction for enraging other eurozone ministers.
“We want to continue discussions, to take this mandate given to us by the Greek people for something better … for all these people who have been suffering so much,” he said.
Source: The Telegraph, ABC News