while promoting a book in 2013 the new greek finance minister, yet esther farkas -- yanis varoufakis,ade an insulting image targeting berlin. it has given rise to outrage on the local web. while some twitter users urged for the insult be put in perspective others cannot believe he could behave in such an insulting manner. they're using the #fingergate. faced with this outrage, yanis varoufakis quickly responded declaring that the video had been doctored. the channel immediately refuted the accusation, guaranteeing that the image had undergone no manipulation whatsoever. social network users are using their down lists creativity to poke fun at the great finance minister's gaffe. this dictating the money man willing to cut his finger off to avoid making the same manner in the future. last week with a shopping center ablaze behind them, to firefighters in russia decided to take time out for a quick selfie. according to the "moscow times" website. and called for outcry, and the request has been headed by authorities, who of opened and it is so -- hawho have opened an official investigatio

yanis varoufakis has been very clear about what he thinks the ecb is doing.ere's what he said he thinks the ecb's approaches. "the ecb in my opinion is pursuing a policy that could be considered asphyxiating toward our government." that is the same ecb which his country is drawing 69 billion in emergency liquidity assistance now. the rays that level, you need an approval. the board is meeting later today by teleconference. there is some opposition according to people familiar with the matter. it is a question of how greece is going to fund itself. they are turning to the ecb but they are also criticizing the ecb. i'm not sure how we get out of this. we do have inspectors arriving in athens today to look at the books. these are lower-level officials. importantly, athens is reserving the right to approve every time they show up in athens and want to look at the books. we could have more fights about audits down the road. jonathan: more fights shock horror. hans nichols, thank you. let's bring back in johnny. i'm going to tell you my experience. i go to sleep ev

yanis varoufakis called him "foolishly naive. here is what mr. wolfgang schaeuble said. he was commenting on mr. varoufakis' communication strategy. some greek papers and markets might be in a better position to talk about this. mr. schaeuble said to be called for shall he naive -- foolishly naive is insade. -- insane. marcus: what has annoyed the greeks is the characterization of the debate. mr. varoufakis does speak a lot to the media. it goes back to the eurogroup, there is a sense that a lot of the debate over greece's bailout has become personalized. the latest comments from schaeuble were perceived as the final straw. in fairness to varoufakis he himself and the things he said, although there is a lot of that., he tries his best to avoid becoming personalized. he gave an interview wednesday evening where he tried his utmost to avoid --the journalists try to get a response and he avoided getting drawn in. he said when i speak to schaeuble i'm respectful and i will not slip into the trap of bad manners. francine: we had, i am quite fascinated by the insults. it feels

that is the message from the finance minister yanis varoufakis. the country continues to wrangle with creditors as a pays down another charge of debt to the imf today. hans nichols has the details. hans: good morning. mr. varoufakis things quantitative easing is giving us nothing but an equitable and it could be unsustainable. varoufakis contrast mr.'s comments -- contrast mr. varoufakis's comments a he wants an investment led were covered in what he likes to call "the merkel plan." contrast what he was saying with what mr. pier carlo padoan was saying. he talked about the importance of quantitative easing and what it is doing to drive down the euro and greater strength in exports. on greece's ability to pay debt, mr. pier carlo padoan seemed to be suggesting there could be bumps down the road. pier carlo padoan: i'm fully confident the solution will be found. the greek government has popular support which in some stage may clash with requests from europe. i am confident a compromise will be found in the interest of both. hans: greece has a paymen

i know you know yanis varoufakis. what you make of this?'t he supposed to be coming up with a laundry list of reforms that he is going to enact? brendan: i think this is classic where a fact this -- yanis varoufakis. before he became finance minister, he was a popular commentator on what was happening in greece. he was very good at framing what happened. sometimes i wonder reading ellis factors whether if it is still not a cultural problem in europe. >> that is absolutely correct. in europe and the u.s., you have a union, but in the u.s., you have a fiscal union. that is one of the fundamental problems with europe's recovery. brendan: do you think germans understand that their own banks got bailed out because they give money to greece? >> i don't think people have a long enough memory to remember when their own country got bailed out. olivia: yes. you also talked about the toxic blame game. i don't think bringing up war reparations helps. [laughter] we will discuss wall street and silicon valley next. this is "bloomberg surveillance." ♪ tom

. -- minister yanis varoufakis and he said there was a misunderstanding over the weekend.e said it was the first batch and there will be more reforms. back to you. jonathan: carolina connan thank you. now to nikos. the big question as we go through the end of the month, how much money does the greek government have and how long will it last? nikos: it is hard to say as mr. jeroen dusselbloem explained. the tax revenue and of course, the deposits over the last few months and we have seen a run on deposits as -- and they are afraid of their savings will be denominated. it is worth reminding what has been happening in the last two weeks. last month, the greek government agreed to implement a set of reforms including pension ever refund, public-sector refund -- pensionary refund, public-sector refines and other overhauls. it was expected they would start implementing. so they can start disbursing bailout funds which is the only lifeline keeping greece and is banks of float for you the government was busy drafting up another of mostly random measures which were unrelated to the

jonathan: we will dig deeper into the politics for you do not want to miss our interview with yanis varoufakis tomorrow and that will be first on bloomberg television. ramin will stay with us. the political pendulum. should markets be concerned? we are live in paris and madrid. ♪ jonathan: good morning and welcome back to "on the move." the ftse 100 is up by almost 20 points. the dax much lower. back to 12,000 points per over the weekend, it was all about politics. establishment parties took the headlines. third-place well l -- while la pen's party came in second. charles penty joins us. first, to greg. the winner seems to be a throwback. mr. sarkozy. what is the significance of a win for his party? greg: sisi came at a similar retirement to take over the reins of the first big test. -- since he came out of 70 retirement to take over the reins this is first big test. the view of old all of the papers. national front it did well, 25%. a few years ago, that would send alarm bells. the polls before this election showed the national front and net and not ahead of the unp. the fact it took the firs

alexis tsipras heading to the city today, sparring between yanis varoufakis and wolfgang schaeuble continues threatening to widen the greek-german divide. the greek prime minister meets the european parliament president as well. for more, let's bring in marcus bensasson in athens. and hans nichols brings us the german angle from berlin. marcus, what are we expecting out of the tsipras trip today? is the bar high, low? >> there's nothing particularly concrete. we aren't expecting announcements of any breakthrough. but juncker has been seen as an interlocutory between greece and the hardline elements in the eurogroup. it comes after a trip to paris yesterday at the oecd where tsipras has tried to bring on board the oecb's assistance to gain more credibility to the reform proposals that greece is making in the hopes that this review can close by the end of april. jonathan: stay with us. hans, talk to me about the standoff between varoufakis and schaeuble. they seem to have heated up once again. hans: heated up would be one way to put it. the issue is what mr. schaeuble said in a press conferenc

yanis varoufakis told the company that they would leave if it is to meet its obligations but ruled out early elections if the eurozone fails. >>> billionaires michael bloomberg and bill gates have launched a joint fund to help development companies pass anti-smoking laws in their legal battles with tobacco industry giants. world health organization warns that smoking is on the rise in south african countries despite declining in many other parts of the world. that means the global temple of smokers will not change much. >>> and with the end of the so-called london fixing. until today, traders at four banks have agreed the price of twice a day on the phone. those will be the last precious metal to drop after silver and palladium made way for electronic auctions last year in order to make the market more transparent. >>> now, of course yesterday was a big day for central bank activity. this morning european shares opening up with london's ftse hitting a new record peak. currently up 0.17% after asian markets enjoyed their best session. and all of this upward activity shares rising back t

yanis varoufakis, then you need to do more. stephanie: so nikos for investors who thought, you know what, we are in good shape, we don't have to worry about greece, they are worried again? nikos: yeah welcome we don't know exactly when greece runs out of cash but it will be sometimes in. the exact date depends on tax revenue and daily cash flows. but also, the banks are bleeding deposits. their ability to bail out the greek state with short-term notes and treasury bills is deteriorating. we know that if greece doesn't get a deal sometime soon, it will run out of cash and default on its payments to the international monetary fund. matt: nikos, how are greek bankers reacting to this? as far as the greek economy now, it is in a serious emergency situation. do they have much time left? nikos: well, not really. the european central bank decided to hold the weekly reviews of the liquidity situation in greek banks. over the last few months we saw depositors running banks because they were afraid that savings would be denominated in dr

in brussels, the eurogroup finance ministers meet terry anna: yanis varoufakis said if the creditorsements of that are not acceptable the greek people may be asked to decide on how to break the deadlock. and tsipras signaled a referendum option could be on the table. let's bring in david powell he is chiefly euro area economist at bloomberg intelligence. he joins us. good to see you. let's talk about the data coming out of the eurozone. it has been getting better, hasn't it? this qe really needed? david: it has been getting better and part of the reason of confidence and etc. but inflation is at a record low. record low, so inflationary pressures have never been so weakened in the euro in terms of qe. mark: a yet they ecb meeting last week and the forecast was for inflation to get back to its target of the forecast period. are you confident will live to the threat in the eurozone? david: they looked optimistic quite convenient over the horizon and brought us to the target of close to 2%. it is an extreme had went and elevated. essentially unemployment as bad as it was in the u.s. aft

yanis varoufakis is on the record talking about how it may have been a mistake that the ecb bought greek once the ecb holds your debt that will not be restructured. if the ecb wants to buy sovereign debt with a maturity of 30 years, from italy come i can you be sure that over the next 30 years, italy won't need to restructure their debt? what is it to italy if the ecb starts buying their bonds? i imagine it will be debated at this press conference. francine: and i guess he will be fielding a lot of questions not only on the bonds related to greece, but on whether greece needs a third bailout after the finance ministers elsewhere in europe say they will need it. >> and some pretty big bond redemptions for the ecb. when this four-month extension ends in june, you've got a big redemption in july, another big one in august. how is it going to be paid? no one really knows. big picture, when the ecb delivers those forecasts for inflation that could go all the way out to 2017, you've got your one trillion euro bond buying plan. you still forecast inflation to come in well below 2%. do you have