Greece's Finance Minister Resigns to Lead Socialist Party

 　　Greece's Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos has resigned, one day after being elected to lead the Socialist¹ party PASOK in the run-up to elections.

　　Venizelos announced his resignation Monday after meeting with Greek President Karolos Papoulias.

　　Venizelos officially replaced former Greek prime minister George Papandreou as head of the PASOK party on Monday.

　　Greece has announced plans to hold early general elections in late April or early May to replace the interim² coalition³ government of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos.

　　Opinion polls show PASOK is badly trailing the conservative New Democracy party.

　　Venizelos played a key role in recent months in negotiating a second bailout for Greece and new economic austerity measures. Earlier this month, the government cut wages and pensions, and eliminated thousands of government jobs to meet the demands of international lenders so that it could secure a new $172 billion bailout.

　　That bailout marked the country's second rescue package in two years.

　　Venizelos said at the time the debt relief would ease financial pressures on Greece and the 17-nation euro currency bloc⁴ that has struggled to control Europe's debt crisis.

1 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

2 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

4 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。