ATHENS, Greece — Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras consented to the resignation of his finance minister, Vassilios Rapanos, four days after naming him to the post.
Rapanos, a former National Bank of Greece chairman, sent his letter of resignation while still hospitalized after collapsing Friday. The resignation was accepted by Samaras, according to a phone-text message from the premier’s office Monday.
“The state of my health isn’t at the state that would allow me to fully and adequately exercise my duties,” Rapanos said in the letter, which was provided by the premier’s office.
Rapanos was hospitalized for nausea and dizziness, days after Samaras’ New Democracy forged an agreement on a government with third-place socialist party Pasok and the Democratic Left party after June 17 elections. The resignation of Rapanos, who was never sworn in, leaves Samaras and his coalition partners without a finance chief.
Samaras is recuperating from eye surgery in Athens and will miss his first summit of European Union leaders as premier this week. President Karolos Papoulias was named to represent Greece.
Missing the summit might set back Samaras’ bid to ease the budget cuts demanded in exchange for emergency loans. EU leaders were due to grill him on his coalition’s plan to renegotiate the terms of a $163 billion rescue package. Bloomberg News
Cyprus asks for aid. The small island state of Cyprus formally became the fifth country to request aid from Europe’s bailout fund Monday as it scrambled to shore up a banking system hit hard by the debt crisis in neighboring Greece.
The request, which had been expected, comes after weeks of unsuccessful negotiations with Russia for a loan similar to a $3.1 billion one that kept it afloat last year. It also comes hours after the much larger economy of Spain confirmed a request for up to $125.39 billion in aid from the eurozone’s temporary rescue fund or its soon-to-be-operational permanent successor, the European Stability Mechanism. Dow Jones Newswires
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