Europe

Home page

Europe

Greek president to head delegation at EU summit

25 June 2012 21:42 (UTC +04:00)

baku-APA. Greek President Karolos Papoulias will head the Greek government delegation at the upcoming European Union (EU) summit in Brussels on June 28, according to an official announcement issued Monday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The press release said that Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will hold a series of telephone contacts with European counterparts ahead of the summit.

Samaras was due to attend the summit, but doctors advised him against travelling after he underwent an eye surgery on Saturday.

Samaras returned to his residence on Monday afternoon and held meetings with ministers and other Greek officials to prepare the Greek delegation for the EU summit.

Greek government spokesperson Simos Kedikoglou later said Samaras would hold a telephone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama.

On Sunday, the Greek government said Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos would head the Greek delegation to Brussels, which would include outgoing Finance Minister Yorgos Zannias, Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras and Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis.

However, legal experts said Greece can be represented in summits at the level of heads of state or prime ministers.

Former President Christos Sartzetakis once headed the Greek delegation in a similar summit in the summer of 1989 in Madrid after no government had been formed after parliamentary elections.

Following the June 17 general elections, conservative frontrunner Samaras and two smaller parties formed a coalition government that was sworn in last week, a few hours before his doctors advised the urgent operation.

Incoming Finance Minister Vassilis Rapanos will also miss the summit because he is in hospital having fainted and suffered from a stomach disorder on Friday. He is expected to exit hospital on Tuesday, but cannot be sworn in on time to travel to Brussels. According to the Greek constitution, the prime minister must be present at swearing in ceremonies.

Samaras and Rapanos’ health problems have caused EU/IMF auditors to postpone their visit to Athens by a week.

Debt-laden Greece is being kept afloat by two multi-billion bailout packages since May 2010 in return for austerity and reform in the country. Samaras and his coalition partners aim to renegotiate some of the austerity terms with international creditors to overcome the debt crisis.