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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has launched a new anti-austerity party that will run against the governing left-wing Syriza party in Greece's next general election.
The 56-year-old Varoufakis was Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' outspoken finance minister for six months in 2015, but split from the party when Greece signed up to its third successive international bailout.
On Monday, Varoufakis formally launched the European Realist Disobedience Front, or MeRA25, which he said would press for restructuring Greece's bailout debt. The Greek party is part of the Varoufakis-led European network known as Democracy in Europe Movement 2015, or DiEM25.
Varoufakis is the third former member of the Tsipras' administration to form a breakaway political party. The next general election must be held by the fall of 2019.
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