Benjamin Weisz is president of the French Association of Professional Diplomats.
On June 2, 2022, hundreds of agents of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs participated in a historic strike to protest against the dramatic consequences of the reform of the senior civil service on the future of French diplomacy. It is this electroshock that led our authorities to decide on the organization of the Estates General of Diplomacy, in order to make a clear diagnosis of the deep crisis from which French diplomacy suffers and the solutions to be provided to avoid its disappearance.
A year later, the remarkable work carried out by the Estates General team, which demonstrated the loss of meaning and the profound discouragement of diplomats in the face of questioning professional diplomacy, has unfortunately not made it possible to reverse the trend. None of the recommendations of the three-hundred-page report submitted in March have yet been implemented. The four very general priorities of a political nature that have since been set cannot replace it.
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Moreover, many alarming signals have been sent to the officers of this ministry, giving the impression of an acceleration of the decomposition of our ministry. The improvement of expatriation and working conditions in central offices, particularly for staff in categories B and C, has not been initiated. The annual "360-degree" evaluation, a crucial tool that the MEAE is the only ministry to have put in place to prevent managerial excesses, has been postponed. The conduct of some recent internal competitions has been illustrated by a complete failure to take account of prior experience. The time devoted exclusively to training has not increased, despite a new change in the name of the institution in charge of it. The commitment of our authorities to create 700 new jobs has not translated into an increase in the recruitment of professional diplomats or a strengthening of the sectors most suffering at the MEAE. Growing tensions at the ministry are leading to an unprecedented deadlock in social dialogue.
It is not too late to restore the public service and the sovereign activity of diplomacy.
Benjamin Weisz
In addition, a considerable part of the energies and budgetary efforts have focused over the past six months on the multifaceted efforts to persuade category A+ diplomats (foreign affairs advisers and ministers plenipotentiary) to opt for the new interministerial body of State administrators. The decree published a few days ago, however, showed that two-thirds of them had not been convinced, in particular because of the many uncertainties surrounding this new heterogeneous body of interchangeable senior officials; A number have even clearly expressed their intention to remain in the diplomatic corps (so-called "extinction") in order to allow professional diplomacy to survive for later reconstruction.
French diplomacy is at a crossroads: it is either a question of widening the gap and mistrust between agents by increasing the bureaucracy linked to increasing interministerialization and centralism, in an obsolete and backward-looking logic, or of rebuilding the cohesion of the ministry around its professions and the accountability of agents in order to safeguard the French diplomatic tool and strengthen its agility ever more, its creativity and influence. Today, it is clear that the recovery has not been started, and that the regression continues.
It is not too late to restore the public service and the sovereign activity of diplomacy.
Any other trajectory will lead to a gradual decline in our diplomatic power, with far-reaching long-term consequences for the future of our nation.
Benjamin Weisz
The Estates General drew up observations and made a large number of proposals. It is a question of implementing them without delay and building diplomacy not against diplomats, but with diplomats. Among the key issues raised by the Estates General: strengthening the MEAE's interministerial steering capacity on global issues; the reaffirmation of the leading role of the State's external action abroad; improving career progression by securing merit- and competency-based perspectives; the upgrading of the situation of local law employees.
Any other trajectory will lead to a gradual decline in our diplomatic power, with serious long-term consequences for the future of our nation, at a time when other powers, sometimes hostile to our interests, are working to strengthen their diplomatic corps both in numerical terms and in terms of attractiveness and training.
The association of professional diplomats will tirelessly continue its work of monitoring, advocacy and proposal to promote French diplomacy, in a world where the place of France depends more than ever on our ability to act and think collectively and in solidarity.
