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.

Greek former prime minister Costas Simitis, the architect of the country's eurozone entry, was laid to rest Thursday in a state funeral. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an address at the funeral that Simitis will be remembered for "his unwavering belief in (Greece's) European orientation and his constant effort for Greece to converge with the most developed,