Last milestone in the reform of the senior civil service promised by candidate Macron in 2017, the diplomatic corps has just been abolished. A decree published in the Official Journal on Sunday put an end to this centuries-old civil service status. And relaunched the controversy: his disappearance recorded, many diplomats have thus deplored this earthquake, alerting to the consequences of such a measure. Until attracting to the bedside of this deceased Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, two of the three main opponents of Emmanuel Macron in the first round of the presidential election. Explanations.
Why did Macron abolish the diplomatic corps?
The abolition of the diplomatic corps is the latest milestone in a series of transformations promised by Emmanuel Macron. The disappearance of this status confirms the reform of the senior civil service promised by candidate Macron in 2017 to streamline the sector and put an end to “lifetime careers”. A reform abandoned at the start of the five-year term, before resurfacing with a forced march after the yellow vests crisis. The decree published on Monday comes at the end of the chain, after the abolition of the ENA and the creation of the status of “State administrator”, which brings together several state bodies.
800 senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will thus lose their status to become “State administrator”, alongside prefects, sub-prefects or finance inspectors, in particular. “After the ENA, you went into a body from which you did not leave. Today, our diplomats want to vary the experiences. At the Quai d’Orsay, you may want to go to the Ministry of Agriculture and then come back. We are setting up two compulsory mobilities. They will make it possible to broaden skills, without destroying diplomacy: those who want to remain diplomats throughout their careers will remain so, ”says the office of the Minister of Public Transformation Amélie de Montchalin.
What are the reactions?
The publication of this decree first caused some French diplomats opposed to the reform to react: “Sad to see that on Easter Day, the official journal publishes the texts abolishing the diplomatic corps…”, Xavier declared in particular this Sunday on Twitter Driencourt, former French ambassador to Algeria, from 2008 to 2012 and from 2017 to 2020, now a professor at the Sorbonne.
“The Official Journal publishes the abolition of the diplomatic corps. France will therefore be the only major Western country without professional diplomats. A story of several centuries comes to an end. The door is now open to American-style appointments,” said Gérard Araud, former French ambassador to the UN and the United States.
With a little delay, Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Marine Le Pen, respectively third and second in the first round of the presidential election, strongly condemned the reform: “France sees its diplomatic network destroyed after several centuries. The 2nd in the world. Promo buddies will be able to be named. Immense sadness “, regretted Jean-Luc Mélenchon, this Monday on Twitter.
“A few days before the end of his mandate, Emmanuel Macron published the decree abolishing our diplomatic corps. He wants to replace impartial servants of the state with cronyism. President, I will restore a status of diplomat based on merit and the national interest, ”promised Marine Le Pen, this Monday on Twitter.
Why so much turmoil?
If the government defends better career opportunities and more competent agents, many political personalities, on the left as well as on the right, are worried about too much openness which could give rise to political quarrels in defiance of the real competences to place the future French representatives.
“It’s a revolution in the public service, the end of two centuries of tradition. Napoleon had thought of the administration as a body, as in the army, here they are defeated by a reform without debate ”, is moved Gérard Araud, contacted by Le Parisien. “Abolishing the diplomatic corps is the virtual certainty of cronyism for the major posts. Former ministers will parade in Rome, ”he warns, in an ironic allusion to the privileged destination of diplomats.
“It is above all political recovery, retorts one in the entourage of the minister. We are in a campaign where there is an extremely violent logic of confrontation and a desire for political recovery. We come to peel the Official Journal as if we were flushing out something done at the last minute. However, this text was expected, it is a consequence of the creation of the body of State administrators last January. »
This is not the first time that diplomats and politicians have fought over the subject. In November 2021, 150 young diplomats warned of the possible harmful consequences of this reform in a column published in the newspaper Le Monde. “The victim of this reform will be French diplomacy, and the international influence of our country through it. Our ability to help our fellow citizens is also in danger,” they said. A few days before the in-between rounds, a trifle is enough to revive old debates.