Freeze accounts of Greek tax dodgers: Gabriel

Gabriel told Bild newspaper that “if the new Greek government is now serious about fighting corruption and tax evasion, the whole EU should support that actively”.

“For serious tax offences by Greek citizens, freezing the wealth and accounts of the super-rich in other EU countries” should be included, Gabriel said, “until all taxpayers have paid their taxes in Greece.”

Gabriel's support for the new left-wing Syriza government under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras came on the same day that Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis spoke with the Financial Times about his party's plans.

He said that his government would stop talking about debt reductions and find other ways to make a new deal with Greece acceptable to Germany and other creditor countries.

They included possible so-called “perpetual bonds”, which would not have a fixed due date for repayment, or a rate of repayment of Greek debt linked to economic growth.

But Varoufakis said that he would also fight hard against tax evasion and increase taxes on the wealthy as part of his plan to free the country from “debt serfdom”.