Greece 1.2.6
Aug 04

Greece 1.2.6

  • August 4, 2019

A complex web of relationships between different Ministries shapes the cultural policy landscape in Greece. Apart from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, responsibilities for specific areas of latu sensu cultural policy belong, among others, to the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs, the State Minister responsible for media, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Significant regional cultural development funds from European Union sources are administered by the Ministry of the Economy, by the Ministry of the Interior, or by regional and local government through the regional operational programmes they administer.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and its agencies have set up or participate in a number of inter-ministerial committees or joint programmes:

  • support for modern Greek studies abroad is an area of interdepartmental co-operation, run by an inter-ministerial committee between the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and involving also the General Secretariat of Greeks Abroad and the Hellenic Foundation for Culture;
  • there has been cooperation with the Ministry of Rural Development and Food and the Municipality of Koroni in the framework of joint efforts with Spain, Italy and Morocco to include the Mediterranean Diet in the UNESCO´s list of Intangible Heritage;
  • the cultural heritage digitisation programmes are funded by the Digital Convergence initiative of the Ministry of the Economy;
  • supervision of arms-length organisations, such as the Unification of the Archaeological Sites of Athens SA lies under joint responsibility with the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate Change; and
  • there is co-operation with the Department of Planning on architectural and urban conservation and cultural landscape projects (e.g., Rhamnous, Patmos).
  • issues related to international conventions, such as the Council of Europe’s European Convention for the protection of audiovisual heritage are managed in co-operation with the General Secretariat for Communication.