Mourners lined the streets outside Athens’ central cathedral for the state funeral for former Prime Minister Costas Simitis, the architect of Greece’s joining the European Union’s common currency.

Mourners are lining the street outside Athens’ central cathedral for the state funeral for former Prime Minister Costas Simitis, the architect of Greece’s joining the European Union’s common currency

Greeks bid farewell on Thursday to former prime minister Costas Simitis, a law professor and reformist, who died last week at the age of 88 and was praised for steering Greece into the European Union's single currency in 2001.

Costas Simitis, former prime minister of Greece credited as the architect of the country’s joining the common European currency, the euro, died Jan. 5 at a hospital in Corinth. He was 88. State TV ERT announced the death but did not provide further details.

Costas Simitis, former prime minister of Greece and the architect of the country’s joining the common European currency, the euro, has died at 88, state TV ERT reports.

The funeral for the former Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis will be held on Thursday, 9 January, at 12pm at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens.

Costas Simitis, the reformist prime minister whose governments oversaw Greece's eurozone entry, helped Cyprus join the EU and planned for the Athens 2004 Olympics, died Sunday at the age of 88.

Costas Simitis, who served as Greece’s Prime Minister for two consecutive terms, is remembered as a European visionary and a leader whose tenure marked a transformative era for modern Greece.