ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s former prime minister, Costas Simitis, who led the country to the European Union’s single currency in 2001, died on Sunday at the age of 88 at his summer home in the Peloponnese.
Simitis, a law professor and reformer, took over the leadership of the socialist PASOK party in 1996 and served as prime minister until 2004.
“Sadly and respectfully, I say goodbye to Costas Simitis, a worthy and honorable political opponent, but also a Prime Minister who has accompanied Greece in its good national steps,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a statement.
The government announced four days of mourning and said his funeral on Thursday, Jan. 9 will be paid by the government.
Although Simitis has been praised for reducing rampant government spending, critics say he has not done enough to curb corruption.
Five years after he left power, Greece fell into an unprecedented, decade-long crisis that nearly left the eurozone. Economists trace the roots of that problem back to graft and corruption during the Simitis years and before.
Simitis was on vacation at his summer residence near Athens in the Peloponnese a few days ago. He was transferred to the hospital in the morning in a coma where it was confirmed that he died, said the director of Corinth hospital to the local media. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.
During his government, Simitis reduced the budget deficit and public debt to make Athens eligible for euro zone membership.
In 2012, three years after the Greek debt crisis, he published a book criticizing the handling of the crisis by Greek politicians and the EU.
In that letter, called “Derailment”, he also accused the European Commission of ignoring the excessive spending of his conservative successor.
