Europe honours former Greek Prime Minister

The European Parliament named a room in honour of the late, former Greek Prime Minister, Constantine Mitsotakis during an event on Thursday attended by Greek and European officials including its President Antonio Tajani.

Attending the event were  family members, including leader of the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party Kyriakos Mitsotakis and ND deputy and former minister Dora Bakoyannis along with Euro deputies from several political groups, deputies and officers of ND, and European Commissioners Dimitris Avramopoulos (Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship) and Christos Stylianidis (Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management.

The European People's Party President Manfred Weber said the honour bestowed on Mitsotakis was for his commitment to the European dream and his courage to deal with terrorism adding that the former Greek PM belonged to the same line of outstanding statesmen as "fathers of Europe" Conrad Adenauer and Robert Schuman.

Speaking on behalf of the family, Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that his father served the public interest, was twice condemned to death for his beliefs, and realized that the unification of Europe could bring peace and prosperity. He believed in the European dream, he fought populism, and his contributions were recognised by both friends and enemies, leaving a great statesman's unchanged heritage behind him, his son said.

Constantine Mitsotakis was first elected to Greek Parliament in 1946, and held several ministry portfolios in his political career. He was prime minister of Greece from April 1990 to October 1993.