The new finance minister for Greece has been accused of making an offensive gesture to Germany during a speech. Yanis Varoufakis is continuing to negotiate for a reduction in Greece's debt from the EU and has been doing a whistlestop tour of Europe in a bid to get support for his proposals. But the new finance minister has been hit by an allegation recently that he held up his middle finger when giving a speech about Greece's finances and Germany in 2013. Scroll down for video . Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has been accused of making an offensive gesture with his middle finger during a speech he gave in 2013 about the country's finances, and mentioning Germany . He is alleged to have made the offensive gesture before he was appointed as finance minister, and Varoufakis has denied sticking up his finger. The minister claims the footage has been doctored. A video of the speech appears to capture the offensive gesture. As he raises his finger, Varoufakis says: 'My proposal was that Greece should simply announce that it is defaulting, just like Argentina did, within the euro, in January 2010, and stick the finger to Germany and say well, you can now solve this problem by yourself.' The claims are likely to make a tense situation even more tricky for Varoufakis who has been trying to negotiate favourable terms for Greece to pay back its debt to the EU since the election of the radical left-wing party Syriza in January. Alexis Tsipras, leader of the radical left-wing party heading the new coalition, immediately demanded a renegotiation of Greece' £179 billion international bailout deal. Yanis Varoufakis has been under increasing pressure to secure a better loan repayment deal for Greece . The party has continued to describe itself as 'anti-austerity.' The call catapulted Varoufakis onto the European stage. Last month he visited George Osborne in London to garner support for the move and has been touring several European countries. Greece was likely to run out of money by March if a deal was not reached before the end of February and a four month extension to the bailout programme for Greece was agreed on a conditional basis. February 9 2010 – Greek Parliament approved first austerity package measures -  included a freeze in the salaries of all government employees, a 10% cut in bonuses, and cuts in overtime workers. March 3 2010 – Parliament passed a new major austerity package. Measures included: Pensions freezes, an increase in sales tax from 19% to 21%, rises in taxes on fuel, cigarettes and alcohol, rises in taxes on luxury goods, cuts in public sector pay. April 23 2010 – George Papandreou, Greece’s prime minister formally requested an international bailout. The financing will come from an emergency aid package with the participation of European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund. May 2 2010 – Papandreou, the IMF, and euro-zone leaders agree to a €110 billion bailout package that would take effect over the next three years. The government announced the new austerity package measures. June 29 2011 – Parliament passed the new austerity package. October 20 2011 – Government passed the multi-austerity bill, amid protests and violent riots outside the parliament building. February 12 2012 – Parliament passed new austerity package measures amid violent protests. Many buildings in the centre of Athens burnt during riots. November 5 2012 – Parliament adopted new round of austerity cuts required for Greece to receive the next installment of the international economic bailout. April 28 013 – Parliament approved bill that included cutting 15,000 state jobs . July 17 2013 – Parliament approves new austerity measures . March 30 2014 – Parliament passed new multi-bill needed for Greece to receive its next bailout. April 10 2014 – Greece returned to financial markets, with the issue of 3 billion Eurobonds. December 8 2014 – Greek government announced snap presidential vote. Next day the Greek stock market fell 12.78%, a fall record since 1989. December 29 2014 –Government collapses after failing to elect new president of Greece. January 2015 - Alexis Tsipras of Syriza becomes prime minister and launches attempt to persuade European Union and IMF to ease terms of bail-outs. But there are still concerns the country could run out of money, as Greek officials complain the repayment measures are starving them of money. It was confirmed today that Greece had handed over 580m euros to the International Monetary Fund - clearing its debt for this month. But it will face another 350m euros bill on Friday - generating further tensions between Greece and the eurozone and fears that the country could drop out of the single currency altogether. The allegations come as Varoufakis, an outspoken Marxist economist and blogger, has faced a number of criticisms. He came under fire after taking part in a photo shoot for Paris Match - him and his wife posing with glasses of wine on their roof terrace.
Finance minister has been trying to negotiate a better debt deal for Greece . Yanis Varoufakis has been under pressure from EU to secure repayments . A video has emerged in which he appears to raise his middle finger . Varoufakis makes offensive gesture while giving speech about Germany . He has denied footage is genuine and claims it has been doctored .