French diplomacy is not known to have a rebellious tradition. An almost unprecedented rebellious wind is nevertheless blowing well at the Quai d’Orsay. After a first strike movement, in 2003, for questions of allowances, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will soon be confronted with the second protest movement in its history, on June 2, 2022. Seven unions – the CFTC, the Association Syndicale officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Asam-Unsa), the Syndicate Union of Chancellery Corps Agents (USACC), Solidaires, the CGT, the FSU as well as the Association Syndicale des Agents d’Orient (ASAO) – have indeed called for a strike “against the disappearance of the professions of diplomacy, consular, cooperation and cultural action”.
This strike “will allow the agents to show that they are not resigned to seeing their trades and career prospects disappear”, can we read in the appeal of the inter-union. The protesters express their “malaise” in the face of an “avalanche of reforms”. “The Quai d’Orsay is gradually disappearing”, worry the seven unions as well as a group of 400 young diplomats, denouncing the reduction in consular activities, the job cuts – 50% fewer staff in all categories in 30 years – and above all the reform marking the end of career diplomats.
A decree published in the Official Journal on Sunday April 17 sets the terms for the gradual “extinction”, by 2023, of the two historic bodies of French diplomacy, ministers plenipotentiary and foreign affairs advisers. With this reform, the diplomats concerned – some 700 people – are called upon to join a new body of “state administrators”.
Limited offer. 2 months for 1€ without commitment
The reform of the senior civil service desired by Emmanuel Macron, adopted by ordinance on June 2, 2021, provides that senior civil servants will no longer be attached to a specific administration but will, on the contrary, be invited to change regularly throughout their career. their career. They will therefore be called upon to serve in any ministry and will thus join the prefects and sub-prefects, whose bodies are also disappearing.
A “considerable weakening of diplomacy”
This reform “was the straw that broke the camel’s back”, explains to L’Express an elected CFTC. “It will destroy the specificities of the diplomatic network which allowed us to weigh in the world well beyond our real weight: our expertise in international affairs”, recently lamented with L’Express Alexis Grand, vice-president of the CFTC- MAE. “It’s as if you replaced a medical specialist with a general practitioner, without prior checking of his knowledge, just because he knows the director of the hospital”, he illustrated. “It’s not at all a profession like the others. We are not born a diplomat, we become one”, abounds an elected CFTC, evoking a “deep malaise”.
“We are going to say abruptly to all the diplomats, who are doing extraordinary work, ‘you have done four or five years in a post and we are now going to send you as sub-prefect of Vendôme (Loir-et-Cher) or as director of the Treasure in Lot-et-Garonne’, that makes no sense”, also regrets to L’Express the senator of Val-de-Marne (Les Républicains) Christian Cambon, “not surprised” by this call strike “so great is the anger among the diplomatic staff”.
For the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Committee, the decried reform will “deprive our diplomatic corps of the absolutely essential skills to exercise this profession which is not similar to the others”. Another concern highlighted by the senator: “the considerable weakening of our diplomacy when it was admired by all”. France has the third largest diplomatic network in the world after the United States and China. About 14,000 agents (permanent, contractual, local recruitments, etc.) are employed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to official figures.
“These measures dismantling our diplomatic tool are nonsense at a time when war has just returned to Europe”, write the seven unions which have called for a strike. “While we are going through an unprecedented international crisis, and while France is under attack on many continents, particularly in Africa, is this really the time to separate ourselves from experienced people who can enlighten us?” abounds Christian Cambon, who also regrets that Parliament “was kept out” of the debates.
L’application L’Express
To track analysis and decryption wherever you are
Download the app
“Today’s world, as the war in Ukraine has again underlined, requires high-quality professionals more than ever,” reacted the Quai d’Orsay spokeswoman on Thursday May 19 during a briefing. hurry. “We have a quality social dialogue with all the trade unions and all the subjects are raised in a constructive spirit on both sides”, she added. The hot file will be high on the pile of files awaiting the future Minister of Foreign Affairs, if Jean-Yves Le Drian is not reappointed.
Opinions
Chronic
Chronic
Must read
Chronic
