At the age of 88, the former prime minister died this morning in the hospital of Corinth Kostas Simitis.

Kostas Simitis was born in Piraeus on June 23, 1936. His father, George Simitiswas a lawyer, professor of ASOEE, for a number of years president of the Piraeus Bar Association, representative of Piraeus in the National Assembly in Koryschades and general commander of Roumelis in PEEA, the mountain government of EAM.

his mother, Fani Christopoulosoriginally from Pyrgos Ilias, was for years a leading figure in women’s organizations of the Left and President of the Panhellenic Women’s Union.

During the occupation his parents took part in the National Resistance against the occupiers from the ranks of EAM and ELAS. His grandfather was the chief physician and benefactor of the municipality of Pyrgos, Konstantinos Christopoulosas well as the legal, Spyridon Simitis. His godfather was Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, who was a friend of his father.

Studies and Dafni Simitis

Kostas Simitis studied law at the University of Marburg in West Germany and economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He began his academic career as a doctor of law at the University of Marburg in 1959. He taught as adjunct professor at the University of Konstanz in 1971 and continued as full professor of Commercial and Civil Law at the University of Giessen from 1971 to 1975. In 1977 he was elected full professor at the Panteio School (the today’s Panteion University). He speaks English, French and German.

He was married to Dafni Simitis, nee Arkadiou, whom he met while they were both studying at the London School of Economics. His wife comes, on her mother’s side, from an old family of Arta while she is the granddaughter of Evangelos Garoufalias, mayor of Arta and member of parliament, as well as the niece of Petros Garoufalias, member of parliament and minister.

They had two daughters together, Fiona and Marilena.

He was its president PASOK from 30 June 1996 to 8 February 2004 and prime minister from 18 January 1996 to 10 March 2004.

After the fall of the Junta in 1974, he was one of the founders of PASOK and held several ministerial positions when his party came to power.

Successor of Andreas Papandreou

On January 18, 1996, he succeeded Andreas Papandreou as Prime Minister after a vote of the Parliamentary Group of PA.SO.K. representing the “modernizing” pole of power with the main goal of the economic reform of the Greek economy and the social convergence of Greek society with “powerful” Europe.

On June 30, 1996, a few days after the death of Andreas Papandreou, Kostas Simitis was elected president of PASOK at the episodic 4th Congress of the party, when he won the Akis Tsochatzopoulos.

He was re-elected prime minister after winning the September 1996 and April 2000 elections.

As prime minister, he promoted a moderate foreign policy at the same time as the gradual privatization of the large Greek public sector, aiming for economic stability in accordance with the policies of the European Union.

As president of PASOK, he de-radicalized the party’s discourse by promoting the country’s path towards European integration in the context of globalization[6]. His second term was accompanied by the implementation of austerity measures, with the aim of reducing inflation and the national debt, as well as efforts to resolve the Greek-Turkish differences over the Cyprus problem in the field of foreign policy.

Among its most important successes is Greece’s accession to the Economic and Monetary Union in 2001.

Political course

Living in Athens as a lawyer, he pioneered its establishment in 1965 “Alexandros Papanastasiou” Political Research Groupof which he was secretary. The Papanastasiou Group had as its goal the systematic study of the most important problems of the Greek economy and society and the undertaking of initiatives to deal with them. In 1967 the group evolved into the anti-dictatorship organization “Democratic Defense”, which seven years later participated in the founding of PASOK.

During the dictatorship he fled abroad illegally and he was referred to the Military Court in absentia for attempted arson and violation of the Explosives Act.

In retaliation, his wife, Dafni Simitis, was arrested and kept in solitary confinement for two months. Since 1970, Kostas Simitis participated in Panhellenic Liberation Movement (PAK) as a member of its National Council.

PASOK and the government

He was a founding member of PASOK and participated in the first Central Committee and the first Executive Office of the Movement.

On June 13, 1979, PASOK announced the resignation of Kostas Simitis from the Executive Office. He was considered responsible for the party’s propaganda, specifically for the poster that had been circulated with the slogan “No to the Europe of monopolies, yes to the Europe of the people”, when the official position of the Movement was the exit of the country from the then European Economic Community (EEC).

Immediately after PASOK’s electoral victory, in October 1981, with the formation of the first government, he was asked by Andreas Papandreou to take over:

  • Minister of Agriculture, from 1981 to 1985, where he ensured the successful integration of Greek agriculture into the European agricultural policy, as well as the multiplication of aid,
  • Minister of National Economy, from 1985 to 1987, where he implemented the first strict stabilization program, with a particularly positive impact on macroeconomic imbalances,
  • Minister of National Education and Religious Affairs during the ecumenical government, under the presidency of Professor Xenophon Zolotas (November 1989 – February 1990),
  • Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology and Minister of Trade at the same time, from 1993 to 1995. During this period, he set the framework for a long-term political development of the Greek economy.

Kostas Simitis was elected MP of the 1st electoral district of Piraeus continuously from 1985 until 2007.

On June 30, 1996, at the 4th Congress of PASOK, a few days after the death of Andreas Papandreou, he was elected president of the movement and with the victory of PASOK in the elections of September 22, 1996, he was declared prime minister. As leader of PASOK, he also won the next election on April 9, 2000.

Under Kostas Simitis, the country prepared for the organization of the 2004 Olympic Games. During the preparation, many large projects were carried out throughout the country.

On January 7, 2004 he announced his resignation from the presidency of PASOK, giving the ring of succession to George Papandreou on February 8, 2004.

He was prime minister until March 10, 2004.

Inscription of religion on identity cards

In 2001, a conflict broke out between the church and the state, when the Greek government attempted, following the suggestion of the Personal Data Protection Authority, to remove the mention of religion from the police identity cards of Greek citizens. Archbishop Christodoulos strongly opposed the decision claiming that it was proposed “by neo-intellectuals who want the religious discoloration of our country”.

The issue eventually took on a divisive character, as the Church showed itself adamant in its request, at a time when it was predictable that the Greek legal order as well as the fixed jurisprudence of the ECtHR did not allow the inscription of religion on identity cards.

He organized two mass rallies in Athens and Thessaloniki together with many bishops of the Church of Greece. The Church even decided to collect signatures requesting a referendum on the issue. The then leader of the official opposition Kostas Karamanlis signed during the collection of signatures of the Church.

On August 29, 2001, the Archbishop delivered the approximately 3 million signatures, according to the Church, to the President of the Hellenic Republic, Konstantinos Stefanopoulos, who did not accept the request for a referendum. The answer of the President of the Republic was that the conditions for holding a referendum on the issue of identities are not met and everyone has an obligation to comply with the rules of the applicable law.

The attitude of the President of the Republic was fully in line with the Constitution, as the announcement of a referendum by popular initiative is not provided for in Article 44 of the Constitution, so the President of the Republic, bound by the presumption of incompetence of Article 50, had no relevant authority to announce referendum, even if signatures were collected from the vast majority of the Greek people.

Ultimately, the inscription of religion on police ID cards, even on a voluntary basis, as the Archbishop finally requested, was deemed unconstitutional by the Greek courts.