ATHENS — Former Greek prime minister Costas Simitis, who led the country into the European Union's single currency in 2001, died on Sunday (Jan 5) aged 88 at his summer house in the Peloponnese.

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

"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," conservative Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a statement.

The government proclaimed four days of mourning and said his funeral on Thursday, Jan 9 will be at the state's expense.

While Simitis had been credited for reducing bloated government spending, critics say he did not do enough to rein in corruption.

Five years after he left power, Greece fell into an unprecedented, decade-long debt crisis that nearly saw it exit the euro zone. Economists trace back the roots of that crisis to graft and corruption during the years of Simitis' rule and earlier.

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