Portuguese Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar resigned Monday after becoming the architect of his country's austerity programme and the most unpopular member of the government, dpa reported. Conservative Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho accepted his resignation and named Secretary of State for the Treasury Maria Luis Albuquerque to replace him. Gaspar, 52, had long been considered the "strongman" of the centre-right government. He introduced budget cuts and tax increases in exchange for a 78-billion-euro (101-billion-dollar) bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund and saw his public approval ratings plummet. Gaspar did not name a reason for his resignation, but it had been expected for months. The opposition had repeatedly called for Gaspar to quit. Unions called four general strikes in two years to protest his austerity measures. The change in bosses at the Finance Ministry comes at a time when Portugal must decide on further cuts to fulfil the demands of its creditors. Albuquerque, 45, has appeared seldom in public and her appointment came as a surprise. Portuguese media had expected Health Minister Paulo Macedo to replace Gaspar.