The movement, extremely rare in a traditionally discreet and little -worn house on the dispute, was launched at the call of six unions and a collective of 500 young diplomats.
Le Monde with AFP
“Tired”, “worried about their future” and “lack of consideration”, the staff of the Quai d’Orsay are called on Thursday, June 2 to strike to protest a series of reforms that endanger them according to them ‘Efficiency and prestige of French diplomacy. The reform of the high public service wanted by the president Emmanuel Macron, who will have consequences on diplomatic careers, was the trigger for the movement, but the discontent has been raising in reality for several years.
“The stack of reforms, the continuous decrease in means, leads to fatigue and disarray of staff,” explains the diplomat and unionist CFTC Olivier Da Silva, noting that “anger is at a particularly high level” in The network.
Unpublished fact, many high -ranking diplomats, ambassadors, regional directors, have been showing their support for the movement for a few days under the hashtag #diplo2mmette. Some, like the ambassadors of Kuwait Claire Le Flécher or Oman Véronique Aulagnon, announce that they will strike, others, such as the director of political affairs of the Quai d’Orsay Philippe Errera, retweet a platform recently published by the collective Young diplomats.
“just a strike is already an event in itself”
Gatherings are even planned before the ministry in Paris and Nantes, where the center of diplomatic archives is located. Ambassadors and consular agents have the right to strike, but “naturally we will never threaten the protection of our compatriots and our interests. We call to cease work as soon as it does not threaten the continuity of the defense of our interests “, specifies Mr. Da Silva. “Nothing but a strike is already an event in itself,” he adds, believing that it is a “alarm cry”. “Our ministry is damaged, it must be repaired.” The unions and the collective demand the organization of conference of diplomacy.
Object of concerns, the reform of the high public service creates a new body of state administrators and provides that senior officials will no longer be attached to a specific administration but will, on the contrary, invited to change them regularly Throughout their careers.
For diplomats, around 700 directly affected by the reform, this translates into a merger then “extinction” progressive by 2023 of the two historic bodies of French diplomacy, Plenipotentiary Ministers (Ambassadors) and advisers of foreign Affairs. Or, consider many of them, “the end of professional diplomacy” French, the third international network behind the United States and China.
“less and less means”
“With this reform, the French will be represented by people who are not trained in the codes of diplomacy, or not ready. Being a consul is not only an honorary role as I intend to say. It is. Go recognize the body of a compatriot to the morgue, to announce a death … We must maintain the professionalization of our diplomacy, “said an ambassador on condition of anonymity.
A high -ranking diplomat also anonymous says he is very concerned about “the fatigue of staff in the face of constant pressure combined with a decline in means”. “Admittedly there are golds at the Quai d’Orsay, but the truth is that there are fewer and fewer means,” said this source. The ministry, where Catherine Colonna, career diplomat has just arrived, whose appointment has been interpreted as a “message” towards staff, assures having “established a quality social dialogue” with all trade union organizations.
“The concern is real, the staff are tired”, we recognize however as a source close to the file, stressing that the social movement intervenes in a “very difficult context”: more than two years of COVID, successions of crisis crises , from Kabul’s evacuations after the Taliban victory in August 2021 via the war in Ukraine, the expulsions of diplomats by Russia, the crisis with Mali … About 13,500 agents (holders, contract workers, local recruitments …) are employed by The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to official figures.