The strike at the Quai d’Orsay, announced for Thursday June 2, promises to be very well attended. For the past few days, under the hashtag #diplo2metier, the agents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been sharing on Twitter the forum written by a group of young civil servants, and published in preview on the website of the Monde May 25. Under the title “We face a risk of disappearance of our professional diplomacy”, the text denounces the reform desired by Emmanuel Macron, which provides for the “extinction” of two historical bodies.
A dozen ambassadors, including Véronique Aulagnon, in Oman, or her counterparts in Kuwait and Cyprus, have announced their intention to strike. Several senior officials, such as Philippe Bertoux, Director of Strategic and Multilateral Affairs, will do the same. Many others, like Anne Guéguen (North Africa-Middle East) shared the text, without specifying their personal choice. The appointment at the head of the ministry of a career diplomat, Catherine Colonna, very discreet so far on this burning issue, has not, at this stage, succeeded in calming people’s minds.
The strike notice was filed by a large inter-union, in connection with the group of young diplomats at the origin of the platform. The CFTC, the FSU, Solidaires and the CGT support the movement, while the majority union, the CFDT, stands aside. “This reform reflects an incomprehensible desire to undermine our ministry, at the risk of permanently weakening our country’s ability to project and defend itself in the world”underlines the inter-union.
Dual fear
Thursday, rallies will be organized on the Esplanade des Invalides, opposite the headquarters of the ministry, in Paris, as well as in Nantes, where the diplomatic archives and the civil status of French people abroad are located. The unions still suggest convening “trade meetings” of the ministry. An idea that M could take upme Colonna.
Unprecedented, the mobilization is at the height of the revolt which seized the ministry against the overhaul of the senior civil service carried out under the leadership of the Elysée, against the initial opinion of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean – Yves Le Drian. The approximately 800 senior civil servants directly affected by the reform come from the two bodies placed in extinction, that of foreign affairs advisers and that of plenipotentiary ministers; they will be encouraged, from January 2023, to join a new interministerial pool, the body of state administrators, as well as prefects and finance inspectors. Their fear is twofold: having to leave diplomacy to pursue their careers, while being faced with competition for the most prestigious positions from non-diplomatic candidates who are not very seasoned in the running of the world.
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