In a rare move for France's diplomatic corps, hundreds of members are going on strike on Thursday.
They hope to put pressure on President Emmanuel Macron to cancel planned reforms aimed at merging diplomats into France's larger civil servant pool — a move staff say amounts to the "brutal eradication of the diplomatic corps."
While diplomatic staff located in posts around the globe will lay down their work for the day-long strike, others will take part in a protest near France's Foreign Ministry headquarters — a complex known as the Quai d'Orsay in Paris.
The country's elite diplomatic corps, which has been in existence since the 16th century, has until now been separate from the rest of France's civil service.
The reforms seek to change that — putting diplomats in a larger group that includes the rest of France's public service. In doing so, it would enable staff to more easily switch between ministries and increase competition for diplomatic posts. The plans are set to take effect in January next year, affecting 800 diplomats.
The reforms "will allow appointments of convenience to the detriment of competence and will result in the de-structuring of careers, a loss of expertise and a vocational crisis," striking staff wrote in the Le Monde commentary.
"We are facing the risk of professional diplomacy disappearing," they added.
