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ATHENS — Prime Minister Antonis Samaras of Greece on Monday replaced his finance minister as part of a sweeping government shuffle intended to re-energize his coalition after its weak performance in European Parliament elections last month.
The new finance minister, Gikas Hardouvelis, a respected university professor and former government adviser, will replace Yannis Stournaras and try to enact a tough economic reform program that has been imposed by the country’s international creditors in exchange for continued rescue loans.
Mr. Stournaras is expected to take over the top spot at the country’s central bank. He is credited with guiding Greece’s return to international bond markets in April and paving the way for talks on debt relief in the fall. But he is also perceived as having expended his political capital after two years during which he led an austerity drive that has slashed incomes and pushed the unemployment rate to about 27 percent.
The cabinet shuffle on Monday, which also included the ministers of the interior, education and culture, was the second since June 2012, when Mr. Samaras cobbled together a fragile coalition. It comes halfway through the administration’s four-year term.
