Athens News Agency: News in English, 07-03-19

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Eliminating red-tape a government priority

[02] Praxiteles exhibition opens at Louvre

[01] Eliminating red-tape a government priority

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Pavlopoulos said that the top issue discussed was the draft law providing for a postal (absentee) vote for the Greeks living abroad, which has already been forwarded to the parliamentary party leaders and the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) for consultation in order to be tabled in parliament after Easter and passed before the end of the current parliament session.

The interior minister stressed that this was an important draft bill that does not take anybody by surprise, given that it will enter into effect in the 2011 general elections, as stipulated by law.

E-governance was also discussed with the prime minister, with an emphasis on citizen service issues and red tape eradication.

Pavlopoulos further briefed the prime minister on the Prefectural Administration code under preparation which will be passed in the current parliament session.

The minister stated that they discussed the country�s administrative restructuring and local administration financing issues.

The interior minister commented that, in view of the EU's 4th Community Support Framework, municipalities and prefectures should be further assisted in addition to administrative restructuring and infrastructures, noting that important steps have already been made and the funds earmarked for local administration have more than quadrupled.

[02] Praxiteles exhibition opens at Louvre

The two culture ministers will cut the ribbon officially inaugurating the exhibition, which will run through June 18 at the museum's Napoleon Hall.

The exhibition showcases the cultural heritage of Greece, focusing on Praxiteles, the first Greek sculptor who dared create representations of the female nude and remains one of the most famous and celebrated artists of antiquity, according to the organisers, and is curated by Alain Pasquier and Jean-Luc Martinez of the Louvre Museum's Department of Greek, Roman and Etruscan Antiquities.

Voulgarakis, who arrived in Paris on Sunday, on Monday morning attended a conference titled "The Cultural Heritage Talks" at the Espace Cardin conference hall, after which he attended an opening at Museum of the Manufacture Royale des Gobellins, the historic industry that produced the famed Gobelin tapestries.

The Greek minister will also fly by helicopter to the Cluny abbey to attend the placement of the "European Cultural heritage" sign and the opening of the Hieron Museum, before returning to Paris for the Praxiteles exhibition opening.

On Tuesday, Voulgarakis will meet with UNESCO secretary general Koichiro Matsuura, while in the evening he will inaugurate the Greek Cinema Festival in Paris.

Wednesday will be dedicated to the Institut de France, which groups together five Academies, with a tour of the Academies, while he will also attend a joint meeting of the Academie des Beaux Arts (Academy of Fine Arts) and the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettes (Academy of the Humanities, literally 'Academy of Inscriptions and Letters), where he will deliver an address.

On Wednesday evening, Voulgarakis will attend the decoration of Greece's internationally-renowned singer Nana Mouskouri by French prime minister Dominique de Villepin, followed by the opening of an exhibition by Greek painter Nicki Papatheochari, titled "The Bacchanals of the Greek Sea" at the Montparnasse Museum.

The minister will return to Greece on Thursday.

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