French Diplomats around World Go on Rare Strike
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Members of the French diplomatic corps are dropping their traditional reserve to go on a rare strike Thursday, angered by a planned reform they worry will hurt their careers and France's standing in the world.
Some French ambassadors and numerous diplomats, in posts ranging from Tokyo to the Middle East and Washington, have said they would honor the day-long strike. They want President Emmanuel Macron to scrap a plan to merge career diplomats with a larger body of civil servants, starting in January.
The action, announced by Macron in an April decree, will reportedly affect about 800 diplomats. Opponents claim that's just the beginning, Le Monde reported.
"We risk the disappearance of our professional diplomacy," a group of 500 diplomats, wrote in an open letter published last week in Le Monde. "Today, (diplomatic) agents (...) are convinced it is the very existence of the ministry that is now being called into question."
Union leaders said Thursday's job action is only the second strike by French diplomats in 20 years. A protest is planned near the imposing French foreign ministry complex known as the Quai d'Orsay, on the River Seine.
The government reform is meant to modernize and diversify France's diplomatic corps, which was created in the 16th century, and to bring down the walls of what some in the government see as an elite institution turned in on itself.
It will put diplomats into a large pool from all branches of public service, encouraging switches to other ministries and forcing personnel to compete with outsiders for prized diplomatic posts. Diplomats, however, say that their job requires specialization and expertise acquired over years in posts around the world − and has no room for amateurs.
Dominique de Villepin, a former prime minister and foreign minister known for an eloquent 2003 speech at the United Nations in which he declared French opposition to the US-led invasion of Iraq, labeled the pending reform in a tweet last month "A historic fault."
The Twitter hashtag, #diplo2metier, shows a number of ambassadors and diplomats around the world joining in or supporting Thursday's strike.
