A government spokesperson said Samaras was under strict orders from his doctors not to travel to the summit after undergoing eye surgery for a detached retina on Saturday, the Kathimerini daily reported
Rapanos, until now the National Bank president, was hospitalised for nausea before he could be sworn in as finance minister. He is expected to be discharged from hospital by tomorrow (26 June). The doctors advise him not to travel and to stay home for a few days.
Greece would be represented at the EU summit by Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos. He will be joined by outgoing Finance Minister Giorgos Zanias, Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras and Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis.
A government official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said inspectors from Greece's ‘troika’ of lenders - the Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund - were considering postponing “for a few days” a visit to Athens that was due to start today.
With state coffers almost empty, Greece needs €7.6 billion by the end of July to pay its civil servants.
The Greek leaders’ health problems occurred as Athens attempts to ease the terms of its bailout. It is an untimely complication for the summit, with eurozone paymaster Germany particularly resistant to giving Athens any leeway. Greece reportedly is seeking a two-year extension for applying structural reforms.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble made his country's position all too clear in a bluntly worded interview on Sunday, telling Greece to stop asking for more help and instead move quickly to enact reform measures already agreed.
"The most important task facing new Prime Minister Samaras is to enact the programme agreed upon quickly and without further delay instead of asking how much more others can do for Greece," Schäuble, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, told Bild am Sonntag.
His comments came as the paper carried a poll of 4,000 people showing 78% of Germans and 65% of French people wanted Greece to leave the eurozone, with 51% in Spain and 49% in Italy also backing a Greek exit.
