French diplomacy will be reinforced by a hundred additional posts in 2023, its head Catherine Colonna announced on Wednesday, a few months after an unprecedented social movement in a house traditionally not very protesting.
“
What is particularly noteworthy this year is that our staff will grow for the first time in 30 years, with 100 full-time equivalents
,” declared the Minister of Foreign Affairs before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly.
"
Our staff has fallen by 30% over the last two decades and by 17% since 2006 and without substantial changes to the scope of the ministry
," she added.
Read alsoPrefects, diplomats… The end of state bodies arouses anger
French diplomacy will now have 13,634 full-time equivalents worked.
“
The 2023 budget marks a break with this trend which was no longer sustainable.
My predecessor (Jean-Yves Le Drian, editor's note) spoke of the haemorrhage of jobs
”.
Many French diplomats had responded last June to an unprecedented call to strike to protest against reforms which, according to them, endangered the efficiency and prestige of French diplomacy.
The extremely rare movement was launched by six unions and a group of 500 young diplomats.
"Fighting diplomacy"
The reform of the senior civil service, which will have consequences on diplomatic careers with the "
extinction
" by 2023 of the two historic corps of diplomacy, had been the straw that broke the camel's back.
But beyond that, discontent has been rising for several years in the face of what some unions denounce as the continuous decline in resources.
The previous Quai strike dated back to 2003.
On Wednesday, Ms. Colonna described an international situation marked in particular by the war in Ukraine, describing the environment as “
brutal, where it is urgent that diplomacy intervene even more actively
”.
"
The additional means (...) will allow us to deploy a combative, agile and innovative diplomacy and results in the service of our compatriots
", she assured.
