The arbitration was delivered against the initial opinion of the minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and is causing a stir within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE). The two bodies constituting the hierarchy of the Quai d’Orsay will be abolished as part of the reform of the senior civil service, initiated by President Emmanuel Macron. Since its announcement to staff representatives on Friday, October 22, this decision has generated serious concern about the future methods of recruitment and operation of the ministry.
The measure concerns two bodies at the heart of the workings of French diplomacy: that of foreign affairs advisers and that of ministers plenipotentiary, who will be “Put into extinction” from 2023. In total, some 800 senior officials are concerned, out of 1,800 category A diplomats. These staff come either from the National School of Administration (ENA) or, most often, recruited through of the very selective Orient competition. An institution inherited from the Napoleonic era, whose existence could now be called into question, according to the most pessimists. “It’s a real shock, because the people who took this competition did so to become diplomats, for international attraction, and not to become civil servants”, reacts on condition of anonymity a former ambassador.
This development is part of a larger project led by the Minister responsible for the public service, Amélie de Montchalin, under the leadership of the Elysée. Discussions were initiated two years ago within the ministry in order to ensure greater parity and diversity in the profile of senior diplomats and ambassadors, as well as better mobility, while some sometimes remain without a specific assignment.
“A statement of failure”
However, the abolition of the ENA, replaced in early 2022 by the National Institute of Public Service, and the creation of a new “Body of state administrators”, where all the bodies now provided by the Strasbourg school will be grouped together, have conditioned the arbitrations concerning diplomats: the latter now have a vocation to join this new interministerial pool of civil servants, like the prefects, sub -prefects and general inspectors of finance.
Beyond a simple corporate reflex, this development is of particular concern to employee representatives. “By diluting the top of the Quai d’Orsay pyramid into a vast, reputedly interchangeable set of state administrators, the reform of senior management signals the programmed disappearance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, even denounces the CFDT-MAE, the majority among the diplomatic staff. Friday, October 22, several unions boycotted the information meeting, called at the last minute by the new director of human resources of the ministry, Agnès Romatet-Spain.
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