Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades was hospitalised in Brussels with high blood pressure Thursday and asked Greece's premier to stand in for him at an EU summit, the government said. "After prolonged nosebleeds the president... was admitted early in the morning to a hospital in Brussels where it was found that the incident is due to high blood pressure," an official statement said.
The 68-year-old Greek Cypriot leader was discharged several hours later after receiving treatment and told to stay at his hotel to be closely monitored by a doctor, government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said. But Thursday afternoon he was admitted to Brussels' ear, nose and throat hospital, where he was given specific treatment, Christodoulides said without elaborating. "The president is in good health, and for purely precautionary reasons he chose to remain in the hospital overnight," he added in a statement. Following the morning announcement, the spokesman said Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras would represent Anastasiades at the summit and "analyse the positions of the Republic of Cyprus."