Former Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis dies

Simitis was transferred, without a pulse, at dawn to the Corinth Hospital, from his cottage in Agioi Theodoroi. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

He had been vacationing at his summer residence close to Athens in the Peloponnese in recent days. 

Simitis served as Prime Minister of Greece from January 1996 to March 2004. He succeeded Andreas Papandreou.

“With sadness and respect, I bid farewell to Costas Simitis, a worthy and noble political opponent, but also the Prime Minister who accompanied Greece in its great national steps,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a statement.

The government proclaimed four days of mourning and said his funeral will be at the state’s expense, Greek state news agency reported.

Simitis, a law professor and a reformist, assumed leadership of the PASOK socialist party in 1996 and was prime minister until 2004.

Born in Piraeus on June 23, 1936, Simitis was a full professor at Panteion University.

In October 1996 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the School of Economics of the University of Cyprus.

He visited Cyprus several times, culminating in his visit in April 2003, immediately after the signing of the Act of Accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the European Union on April 16, which Costas Simitis had described as a highlight of Greece’s national strategy.

In his book Policy for a Creative Greece, he wrote that the top moment of emotion for him was his visit, immediately afterwards, to Nicosia and the expressions of enthusiasm with which he was embraced by the Cypriot people.

During his premiership, Cyprus’ accession to the European Union was planned and completed.

During his government, Simitis reduced the budget deficit and public debt to make Athens qualify for euro zone membership.

In 2012, three years after the Greek debt crisis erupted, he published a book criticising 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 overspending by his conservative successor.

Source: Reuters