“There has been a succession of crises and resources which have been down 30% for ten years”, warns a diplomat

The 500 agents of the Quai d’Orsay are preparing to strike on June 2, at the call of the inter-union. A movement followed “in Paris, Nantes and in our 250 diplomatic and consular posts abroad”, specifies Olivier Da Silva, permanent of the CFTC and member of the inter-union, Thursday, May 26 on franceinfo. A movement that he justifies “by the concern and fatigue among agents confronted for years with the stack of reforms”. “There has been a succession of crises and resources which have fallen by 30%, particularly in terms of employment, agents, for ten years”he adds.

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The feeling of the agents, according to Olivier Da Silva, turns to “faintness”. To remedy this, the inter-union demanded, immediately after the strike, the holding “of foundations of the professions of diplomacy, consular and cooperation” to take stock of all the reforms that are overwhelming the ministry and in the face of the fear of seeing the diplomatic corps disappear. A mobilization “urgent to avoid the weakening of the ministry” while we are in a “particularly tense period in terms of crises and globalization which is being recomposed”underlines the diplomat.

Despite the development of videoconferences, Olivier Da Silva recalls the importance of advisers and diplomatic agents. Heads of state speak to each other more directly today, he acknowledges. Then, he points out, we must “to work, to put in place public policies” and for that have “specialists, professionals” who maintain various networks abroad with “police, military, NGOs”. “We must keep a professional tool in a world that has become uncertain, dangerous and fragmented and not only for public policies but also to protect French people abroad”he concludes.