Former Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitiswho headed the socialist government between 1996 and 2004 brought the country into the euro zonedied this Sunday at the age of 88, the country’s public television reported this Sunday ERT. “At 7:31 in the morning he was taken by ambulance to the Corinto hospital,” where attempts were made to revive him in vain, the station said.
The government of conservative Kyriakos Mitsotakis decreed four days of national mourning for the death of the pro-European Simitis, who died in his holiday residence in the small coastal town of Agioi Theodorou, located in the Peloponnese, 60 kilometers southwest of Athens.
“With sadness and respect I say goodbye to Kostas Simitis, the worthy and noble political opponent. But also the prime minister who accompanied Greece in its great national steps: integration into the eurozone and the euro and the entry of Cyprus into Europe,” declared Mistotakis, quoted by ERT.
Former Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis.
Born in Piraeus in 1936, Simitis, member founder of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) after the fall of the military junta in 1974, he held several ministerial positions before becoming prime minister.
In 1996 he succeeded Andreas Papandreou as party leader and head of government, and led PASOK to two electoral victories.
His mandate was marked by strengthening the country’s ties with the European Unionas well as by privatizations, fiscal stability and a moderate foreign policy aimed at modernizing Greece’s economy and society.
It is considered that his role in the architecture developed to achieve the successful adoption of the euro in Greece in 2001 was key.
The socialist politician studied law and economics in Germany and England, where he met his wife, Daphnis Simitis, with whom he had two daughters.
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