ATHENS (Reuters) – Former Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, who led the country to the European Union’s single currency in 2001, died on Sunday aged 88 at his summer home in the Peloponnese.
Simitis, a law professor and reformist, assumed leadership of the socialist PASOK party in 1996 and served as prime minister until 2004.
“With sadness and respect, I say goodbye to Costas Simitis, a worthy and noble political opponent, but also the prime minister who accompanied Greece in its great national steps,” conservative Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a statement.
The government proclaimed four days of mourning and said that his funeral on Thursday, January 9, will be at the expense of the State.
While Simitis was credited with reducing bloated public spending, critics say he did not do enough to curb corruption.
Five years after he left power, Greece fell into an unprecedented, decade-long debt crisis that nearly led to its exit from the euro zone. Economists trace the roots of that crisis to bribery and corruption during the years of the Simitis government and before.
Simitis had been on vacation at his summer residence near Athens in the Peloponnese in recent days. He was taken unconscious to the hospital early in the morning, where he was confirmed dead, the director of the Corinthian hospital told local media. He was survived by his wife and two daughters.
During his government, Simitis reduced the budget deficit and public debt so that Athens qualified for membership in the euro zone.
In 2012, three years after the Greek debt crisis broke out, he published a book criticizing the handling of the crisis by Greek politicians and the EU.
In that book, called “Derailment,” he also accused the European Commission of turning a blind eye to the excessive spending of his conservative successor.