Greek PM cannot attend EU summit due to surgery

Source: AP-Excite

By ELENA BECATOROS

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece's new Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will not be well enough to travel to a critical European Union summit in Brussels after undergoing an eye operation, the government said Sunday.

Samaras, 61, underwent surgery for a detached retina Saturday, just three days after being sworn in at the head of a three-party coalition government formed after two inconclusive general elections.

The doctor treating the prime minister, Panagiotis Theodosiadis, has ruled out him being able to travel to Brussels for the June 28-29 summit, government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said.

Samaras has appointed new Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos to head the Greek delegation at the meeting, Kedikoglou said.

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Greek conservative leader Antonis Samaras takes part in a swearing in ceremony officiated by Greece's Orthodox Archbishop Ieronimos at the Presidential palace in Athens, in this Thursday, June 21, 2012 file photo. Samaras underwent surgery for a detached retina Saturday June 23, 2012. Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said Sunday that the doctor treating him had forbidden him from flying. So he will not be well enough to travel to a critical European Union summit in Brussels . (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)