Greek finance minister resigns
GREECE’s new finance minister resigned yesterday, throwing the government’s drive to soften the terms of an international bailout into confusion less than a week after it took office.
Vassilis Rapanos, 64, chairman of the National Bank of Greece, was rushed to hospital on Friday before he could be sworn in, complaining of abdominal pain, nausea and dizziness.
The mild-mannered banker, who was imprisoned by a military junta in the 1970s, has a history of ill-health. The office of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who only took office last Wednesday, said Rapanos’s resignation had been accepted.
Rapanos said in his resignation letter: “Following discussions with my physicians, I have concluded that my health would not at the moment allow me to carry out my duties fully.”