Rapanos: hospitalised yesterday
DPA/AFP/Athens
Greece’s new government suffered a series of health setbacks yesterday, with two members of the new government hospitalised unexpectedly.
Hours after it was reported that the new prime minister, Antonis Samaris, was to undergo eye surgery, the man who was to be sworn in as finance minister later in the day, Vasilis Rapanos, was rushed to the hospital after collapsing in his office.
Greek media immediately began referring to a “cursed government”.
Rapanos was rushed to a private Athens hospital.
The Athens News Agency (Ana) reported that his condition was not serious, but doctors have recommended that he undergo tests and remain in hospital through the weekend.
Rapanos, 65, the chairman of the National Bank of Greece, had been expected to be sworn in to his new post yesterday evening.
No new date for the swearing-in ceremony had been set.
The hospital said Rapanos was hospitalised with “strong stomach pains, vertigo, nausea, sweating and fatigue”.
Doctors have stabilised his condition and he is undergoing tests, it said.
Ana said Rapanos had run a high fever while at his office at National Bank ahead of his swearing-in ceremony.
A former economics professor who served in the economy ministry when Greece joined the euro in 2001, Rapanos was named finance minister on Thursday in a conservative-led coalition seeking to revise the country’s bailout terms.
Hours earlier before Rapanos’ incident, the prime minister’s office said the new premier, Antonis Samaras, was scheduled to undergo eye surgery today after suffering corneal flap detachment.
The prime minister cancelled a meeting of conservative New Democracy deputies and will not be able to attend the European Championship quarterfinal match between Greece and Germany in Gdansk, Poland.
Samaras was sworn in as the prime minister on Wednesday, promising to try to renegotiate the country’s austerity commitments with its international creditors without having to risk its eurozone membership.
He heads a three-party coalition government with the Socialist Pasok and the smaller Democratic Left party. The conservative New Democracy party came first in June 17 elections, but without garnering enough votes to form a government on its own.