Smallest Member of Ruling Greek Coalition Quits

Cabinet reshuffle looks likely

Greece's fragile three-way coalition was dealt a serious blow on Friday, the anniversary of its creation, when its smallest party withdrew to protest Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's shutdown of the state broadcaster, the latest in a series of unilateral decisions that have enraged his partners in government.

But after hours of emergency meetings — and under renewed pressure from Greece's foreign lenders to meet budget targets and fire civil servants — a cabinet reshuffle looked more likely than fresh elections. The coalition's two largest parties, former rivals, pledged to hold the government together, and the small Democratic Left, which left the coalition, said it would continue to support the government in parliamentary votes.

"After Democratic Left's decision to withdraw its support from the government and to withdraw its ministers, I will be submitting my resignation to the prime minister," said Antonis Manitakis, the minister of administrative reform, who had been tasked with overseeing painful cuts to the Civil Service.