ATHENS — Ever since the leftist-led Greek government came to power in late January, the avatar of the country’s austerity-weary public has been its outspoken, motorcycle-riding renegade finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis.
On Monday, seeming to acknowledge that the rest of the eurozone has grown weary with the Varoufakis approach to debt negotiation, the Athens government announced a shake-up of the team trying to hammer out a plan with international creditors before the country runs out of money.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras took pains to say that Mr. Varoufakis would remain the team’s leader. But the day-to-day discussions will be “coordinated” by Euclid Tsakalotos, a deputy foreign minister and an Oxford-educated economist whose soft-spoken style contrasts sharply with that of Mr. Varoufakis.
Giorgos Houliarakis, who has been involved in negotiations, is to lead in talks at the technical level. He and Mr. Tsakalotos are both closer to Mr. Tsipras than is Mr. Varoufakis.
The shake-up came three days after Mr. Varoufakis drew fierce criticism from his eurozone peers at a meeting in Riga, Latvia. The other finance ministers voiced frustration over a lack of progress in talks to continue extending loan money that Greece desperately needs to avoid a default that could otherwise happen as soon as July. Part of their concern is that a default by Greece could force the country from the euro currency union, threatening the ability of the bloc to hold itself together.
Most European officials have said that they want to avoid such a prospect, despite having built firewalls against financial contagion since the last major Greek crisis in 2012. But some indicated after the Riga meeting that a “Plan B” for Greece should be considered in case talks collapse.
Although Mr. Tsipras’s office on Monday expressed support for Mr. Varoufakis, saying he had been “systematically targeted in the international press,” some Greek news media interpreted the move as a way of sidelining the finance minister.
Opponents of the government led by Mr. Tsipras’s party, Syriza, have publicly criticized Mr. Varoufakis for weeks. On Monday, a prominent conservative and former foreign minister, Dora Bakoyannis, called for Mr. Varoufakis to resign, saying he was a “drag” on the debt negotiations and was undermining Greek national interests.
Mr. Varoufakis was named finance minister in January largely on his international reputation as an economist who had long led a public campaign against the belt-tightening terms of the international bailout program agreed to by a previous government. After giving Mr. Varoufakis such a prominent stage, Mr. Tsipras might find it politically awkward to force him out. That could be a reason for saying Mr. Varoufakis will lead the negotiations, even as less polarizing figures are put in charge of the day-to-day discussions.
A European Union official with direct knowledge of the lenders’ talks with Greece hailed the shake-up as a sign that negotiators could start bypassing Mr. Varoufakis.
The shake-up is a “of course necessary step,” said the official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because of the secret nature of the talks with Athens. “I think it’s easier doing business with Tsipras and his people,” the official said.
Another European Union official, with direct knowledge of what Greece’s international lenders are seeking from the government in Athens, said of the change announced on Monday, “It is a welcome development, which also reflects a more direct involvement of the prime minister in the process.”
But the official, who also spoke only on the condition of anonymity because the talks are at a delicate stage, also warned that “there remains a long way to go to bridge the gaps on the substance” and that “time is very short.”
It was unclear what the changes would mean in practical terms, and whether they would improve efforts to reach a deal between Greece and its creditors before European finance ministers meet again next month. That meeting is scheduled for May 11, a day before Greece must pay 750 million euros, or $815 million, to the International Monetary Fund as part of its loan agreements. A Finance Ministry official said Mr. Varoufakis would still represent Greece at eurozone meetings, with Mr. Tsakalotos “coordinating policy work in Athens.”
Mr. Varoufakis, after being heavily criticized at the stormy meeting with his eurozone counterparts last Friday, responded defiantly on his Twitter account the next day, quoting President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: “They are unanimous in their hate for me; and I welcome their hatred.”
The posting triggered a stream of angry responses, with many accusing the Greek minister of narcissism.
The shake-up also puts Mr. Varoufakis’s general secretary, Nikos Theoharakis, who has been leading technical talks with creditors, in charge of drafting a growth strategy that, it is hoped, will form the basis of a new deal with creditors in June.
A new team has also been set up to “better support” technical-level representatives of Greece’s creditors, who have struggled to obtain accounting data in recent weeks.
Mr. Tsipras and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany spoke by telephone on Sunday and agreed to speak more regularly over the coming days in a bid to improve the chances of reaching a deal, according to Mr. Tsipras’s office.
The pressure on Greece to reach a deal has been rising as the country’s finances run dry.
Greek Finance Ministry officials have indicated that Greece will be able to make about €1.7 billion in payments for salaries and pensions this month, relying in part on money from state entities ranging from local authorities to universities, which have been obliged to hand over their spare cash.
European officials have indicated that Greece must put into effect economic reforms it committed to in February, including changes to the pension system and the labor sector as well as privatizations, to secure funds from an outstanding bailout installment worth €7.2 billion.
But those changes have yet to be made amid strong resistance within the leftist Syriza party. Some government officials have insisted in recent days that Greece should consider early elections or a referendum if talks with creditors collapse, propelling speculation of a default or that Greece will be forced to leave the eurozone.
Guntram B. Wolff, the director of Bruegel, a research organization in Brussels, said that changes in the negotiating team could be helpful but that European officials need to see more convincing evidence.
There was already “a lot of disappointment in almost all euro area countries” with the government in Athens, Mr. Wolff said, and so promises of future action were unlikely to be enough for lawmakers to grant their support.
”Clearly it is difficult for many countries to release money without seeing progress on reforms,” he said.
During the finance ministers’ meeting in Riga on Friday, at least one minister encouraged his eurozone colleagues to consider alternatives plans for Greece in case no agreement was reached with the government.
Dusan Mramor, the Slovenian finance minister, told reporters on Saturday that he had raised the question of “what we will do if the conclusion will not, or the new program will not, be achieved in time for Greece to be able to finance itself or improve liquidity.” A “Plan B can be anything,” he said.
Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, told reporters on Saturday that he was not planning for the failure of talks with Athens. But he also suggested it would be unwise to make any such planning public because that could cause alarm.
”To ask this question of a responsible politician brings about an insoluble dilemma,” Mr. Schäuble said. “The situation in Greece is as it is.”
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