Reforms at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (Nov. 10, 2021)

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Q: This morning, Mr. Le Drian and Mr. Lemoyne are giving a presentation at the Council of Ministers on “priority reforms” at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Can you explain what these are?

A: As part of its digital revamping of public services, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs is adopting changes to simplify the lives of users. Mr. Le Drian and the Minister of State for Tourism, French Nationals Abroad and Francophonie presented the following projects to the Council of Ministers:

  • The establishment of a digital civil registry – a project to make the civil registry, which is administered by the Ministry and which contains 15 million documents, completely paperless, to simplify the lives of users and to reduce delays and production costs
  • The institution of online voting in consular and legislative elections for French nationals abroad
  • The establishment of a French consular contact center to respond by phone and by email to questions from consulate users, currently being tested in five European countries since October 13.

These measures are part of a broader project launched by the Minister in 2019 to update the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and make it more open.