Emmanuel Macron announces a substantial increase in the staff and budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Quai d’Orsay must be in “compliance” with the “ambitions” of French diplomacy. Emmanuel Macron announced, Thursday, March 16, a sharp increase in staff and resources allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “I want a complete rearmament of our diplomacy”declared the Head of State in a speech at the Quai d’Orsay, announcing an increase “over four years of the ministry’s workforce of 700 FTEs” (full-time jobs) and an increase of “more than 20%” of its credits, to bring them to “7.9 billion euros in 2027”.

“Rearmament in the service of peace, in the defense of our interests and our values, but also in coherence with the ambition which is ours”added Emmanuel Macron, recalling that he had already strongly “bailed out the means” armies since 2017. “We must assume not simply to end decades of decline and weakening [des moyens du Quai] – what we have done since 2020 – but to give us the means to reengage the necessary capacities, to be able to deploy new skills”he added.

A response to the grumbling of diplomats

“And basically, at a time when war has returned to European soil, when profound rearticulations are at work, to be able to give us the means to serve our interests, to defend our priorities, our influence and to give ourselves the capacities of the influence of our country”declared the President of the Republic.

The Head of State also responded to the discontent of diplomats in the face of the reform of the senior civil service, which provides for the “extinguishing” of the two historic corps of diplomacy by the end of 2023 and the creation of a new state corps. Senior civil servants will no longer be attached to a specific administration. “A job does not need a body to exist (…) Yes to the job and no to the body”he asserted.