France is one of the countries that since the 16th century has shaped the concept of diplomacy as we know it, sometimes its vocabulary. In addition, it was one of the countries where the issue of a distinct body of senior civil servants was raised, whose job was diplomacy and not just some nobles whom the king trusted and entrusted with diplomatic duties.
This led to the creation of a distinct body of senior civil servants, drawn from foreign affairs advisers and “plenipotentiaries”, the upper echelons of French diplomats.
But the Macron government already in 2018 wanted to make a major reform. According to this, the senior diplomatic corps should be merged with the other corps of senior civil servants (of the executives of the administration from the National School of Management, ENA), something that would allow better utilization and mobility of this potential.
Eventually, this reform took the form of a law, which was also published in the Journal Officiel (the French Government Gazette), the abolition of the body of foreign affairs advisers and plenipotentiaries and the transfer of this staff to a new “body of directors”. of the state “, or, if they wish, in the old diplomatic corps but as a” body under abolition “.
This decision concerns about 800 executives who either come from ENA or from the highly selective competition for entry into the body.
Diplomacy is a profession
Already in recent months there have been reactions from the diplomats themselves. A letter from 150 diplomats, signed by Susan Borrell (the name of the first woman to enter the diplomatic corps in 1930), argued that diplomacy was a separate profession and that foreign policy could not be pursued without a set of “career diplomats”. “, While emphasizing that the diplomatic corps includes people who have accumulated knowledge and skills, without which French diplomacy can not exist.
À quelques jours de la fin de son mandat, Emmanuel Macron a publié le décret supprimant notre corps diplomatique. Il veut remplacer des serviteurs de l’État impartiaux par du copinage.
Présidente, je rétablirai un statut de diplomate fondé sur le mérite et l’intérêt national. pic.twitter.com/yAXGR5Yrgv
— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) April 18, 2022
Political reactions
The announcement of the publication of the relevant provisions provoked political reactions. Both far-right Marin Le Pen and left-wing Jean-Luc Melanson have denounced the decision. The candidate of the National Alarm in the second round of the presidential elections accused Macron that she wants to replace an impartial body of officials with the logic of “friends”, while she promised that if elected she will restore for the diplomats a prestige based on value and national interest. For his part, Jean-Luc Melanson's France sees its diplomatic network being destroyed after centuries and expressed his sorrow for it.
Journal officiel : suppression du corps diplomatique. La France voit détruire au bout de plusieurs siècles son réseau diplomatique. Le 2ème du monde. Les copains de promo vont pouvoir être nommés. Immense tristesse.
— Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) April 18, 2022
The question of the place of diplomacy in the modern world
All this of course leads to a discussion about what the role is of diplomacy in today’s conditions where much of what diplomats have traditionally done (with all the elements of a historically shaped culture ranging from knowledge of international law to the ability to translate texts into “diplomatic language”) at a time when international politics is now practiced at the same time with public statements on twitter and with the action of the intelligence services, with “classic” threats for the use of force but with extensive use of financial sanctions, with elaboration of draft treaties but also with the use of communication as the main field of “psychological operations” and where Leaders and ministers often view the paths of “career diplomats” as unnecessary rituals, if not obstacles to a more “active” foreign policy.
IN.GR
