Neither the Ukrainian war, which is at the doorstep of Europe, nor the EU presidency… The employees of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, despite the sensitive diplomatic agenda, revolted against a series of reforms introduced by the government that “put an end to the traditions of French diplomacy”.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one of the oldest diplomatic organizations in the world, decided to strike for the second time in its history.
6 unions organized in the ministry decided to go on strike on June 2 against the “High-level Civil Service Reform”, which includes a series of reforms that broke the rule for senior diplomats to come from the organization and removed the cadres of plenipotentiary ministers and diplomatic advisers.
The Young Diplomats Collective, consisting of approximately 400 diplomats, announced that they supported the strike on June 2, “with the concern of the loss of deep and deep-rooted French diplomacy, which has the third largest diplomatic network in the world after America and China.”
Second strike in diplomatic history
In the statement that the inter-union union, which brings together the CFTC, CGT, FSU, Solidaires and the internal unions in the ministry, announced the decision to strike, “discomfort” was expressed about a series of reforms introduced by the government. Olivier da Silva, the Ministry representative of the CFTC union, said, “In the history of the Ministry, there was a decision to strike once in 2003 due to a problem with compensation. This is the second strike. This decision is a manifestation of real and great discomfort in the ministry, which has no tradition of strikes or riots.” said.
The unions that took the decision to strike oppose the election of high-level diplomats from outside the organization or from other professions, the reduction of consular activities and the reduction of staff.
By secret decree between two elections
After the abolition of the historical “Ecole Nationale d’Administration/National School of Public Administration”, which trained senior bureaucrats and graduated from which many presidents such as Emmanuel Macron, Jacques Chirac, François Hollande, were abolished, the government gave the French government a new regulation in senior public positions. The series went through reform.
With the reform requested by President Emmanuel Macron, the government envisions that senior public officials should no longer be tied to a particular administration, but rather be invited to change regularly throughout their careers. This means that names from other ministries and different positions can also be appointed to diplomatic missions.
The most controversial item of the reform is the regulation, which envisages the gradual elimination of the plenipotentiary ministers and foreign affairs advisers, the two historical bodies of French diplomacy, by 2023. Some 700 diplomats who held this post were offered positions in other areas of the state.
Union representative Da Silva says this part of the reform is the last straw, adding that “there is especially great concern about the continuation of the careers of diplomats, the meaning of our mission and the relationship with power.” Young diplomats, on the other hand, reject this arrangement, which completely breaks the diplomatic tradition and merit, pointing out that instead of experienced names who come from the diplomatic background by passing all the steps to the embassy staff, it is possible to bring names close to the power from outside.
The fact that the reform came with a secretly issued decree between two rounds during the presidential elections also angered the Foreign Office. The reform currently only covers A and A+ categories, namely foreign affairs advisers and plenipotentiaries. However, young diplomats say that they “do not doubt that sooner or later it will be their turn”. Moreover, he argues that this reform “is an insult to the honor and dignity of the profession”. In their statement, the Young Diplomats Collective expressed their reaction, saying, “At a time when the war is back in Europe, this reform decision, which has shaken our diplomatic structures to the ground, is incomprehensible.”
A name from the agency to replace Le Drian
A new cabinet was announced on Friday, following the re-election of French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron appointed Catherine Colonna, one of the powerful female diplomats of the Foreign Service, to head the Foreign Office, which rebelled because of the reform.
Announcing that he wanted to quit politics, Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian handed over his ministerial duties, which he had been carrying out for 5 years, to Catherine Colonna, with a ceremony held at the ministry. In his speech, Drian referred to the case of Australia canceling the $56 billion submarine tender with France, which is considered the biggest failure of the ministry, and giving the tender to the USA-England partnership. “I can’t help but say that I am very happy with the election defeat of Australian Prime Minister Scot Morrison,” Le Drian said. Long applauded at the handover ceremony, Le Drian chose to leave without mentioning the reform that had stirred up the organization.
However, the statement on the subject came from the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In its statement, the spokesman said, “We have a quality social dialogue with all unions and all issues are handled in a constructive spirit on both sides. We hope that the talks will continue in the same spirit in the coming days. The employees of this ministry will always be in a crisis situation, whatever the circumstances. “They have done this remarkably during the COVID crisis. More recently, the mobilization of all diplomats since the start of the war in Ukraine is exemplary. In this tense international context, we recognize the difficulty of their task and the importance of providing them with satisfactory working conditions.” .
In the framework of the inter-ministerial negotiation on the reform, the foreign minister “demands solid guarantees for the preservation of professional and professional diplomacy”, the statement said. “Today’s world demands more than ever high-quality professionals, as the war in Ukraine has once again underlined. “The minister has worked for this, including achieving significant increases in the budget,” it said.
If talks between the ministry and the union of trade unions do not yield results, French diplomacy will cease on 2 June.