Mitsotakis family asks that state does not pay for ex-PM's funeral

The family of former prime minister Constantinos Mitsotakis, who died in the early hours of Monday at the age of 98, has requested that it be allowed to cover all funeral expenses instead of the state.

The family has reportedly written to Interior Minister Panos Skourletis requesting that the funeral of the late president of opposition New Democracy not be a public expense, as per a 1976 law decreeing that all former prime ministers are buried with full state honors.

A funeral service will be held for Constantinos Mitsotakis at Athens's Metropolitan Cathedral on Wednesday at 3 p.m. His body will lie in state from 7 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. and will be taken to Hania in Crete, where he was born, for burial on Thursday.

The late prime minister had requested before his death that instead of wreathes and flowers, mourners should make a donation to environmental groups that...