Acum câteva zile, comentând criticile publice ale unor diplomați străini la adresa Parlamentului României, critici care au impulsionat o serie de demonstrații publice și au generat astfel un pericol de instabilitate socială, mă întrebam cui servesc asemenea demersuri pseudo-diplomatice. Cu acest prilej exprimam îndoiala că SUA, UK, Olanda sau Germania sunt interesate în destabilizarea României într-un moment în care războiul bate la ușă.
La doar câteva zile iată că apare comunicatul de presă de mai jos, trimis mie de câțiva prieteni din Departamentul de Stat al SUA. El răspunde indirect întrebărilor mele.
Titlul comunicatului spune multe: "Diplomația americană în pericol, Departamentul de Stat nu respectă legile - afirmă Academia diplomatică a Americii"
Încălcarea Convenției de la Viena privind relațiile diplomatice, precum și demersuri care riscă să tensioneze relațiile bilaterale între parteneri strategici sau să afecteze stabilitatea unuia dintre ei (în speță România) par a se explica, cel puțin în ceea ce privește SUA, prin grave deficiențe în administrarea politicii externe americane. Este bine ca românii să ia cunoștință de această opinie formulată de unii dintre cei mai distinși diplomați americani. Eu unul subscriu integral la punctul lor de vedere.
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 30, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 30, 2015
American Diplomacy at Risk, State Department not Respecting Law, Says American Academy of Diplomacy
Press event to be held at 10 am, Wednesday, April 1, 2015, in the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs' Lindner Commons (1957 E St NW, 6th floor, Washington, DC 20052). Registration is required; please register here or at www.academyofdiplomacy.org.
Washington, D.C.: On April 1, 2015, in a report called “American Diplomacy at Risk,” the American Academy of Diplomacy will highlight serious problems and call for important changes in the way the State Department manages American diplomacy -- the front line of America’s defense in a dangerous world. In its report, the Academy, whose members represent America’s most senior former diplomatic officers, will highlight a number of the State Department’s management policies and procedures which today undermine the nation’s diplomatic capacity. This matters to every American. As the Academy’s Chair Ambassador Thomas Pickering stated, “The world beyond our borders affects every American citizen’s security and well-being. How well we manage our diplomacy will determine the future of America’s security and ideals.”
The report will focus on key central weaknesses that undermine the institutional strength of the State Department and make recommendations on how to overcome these challenges. First is the increasing politicization of the State Department. There are too many short-term political appointees too deep in the system. For example, eight of the 10 most senior foreign policy officials at State are non-career. As a result, there is less and less field perspective and institutional memory input into the process.
This is compounded by growth of Special Representatives, Envoys, and Advisors. 57 of these single-issue “tsars” now report directly to the Secretary.
Second is the effort to ignore and nullify the Foreign Service Act of 1980 and its “rigorous selection” and merit-based promotions of Foreign Service Officers and Specialists. Senior officials and all FSOs are bound by oath “to support and defend the Constitution” and to pursue its mandate to all executive branch officers to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” (Article II, Section 3). Instead, State has discovered a new requirement “to break down” the legal requirements of the Act in order to homogenize the Foreign and Civil Services despite the starkly different systems and requirements of the two services. The Department’s senior officers should support the Act, not subvert it by administrative fiat.
Former Under Secretary of State and former chief personnel officer of the State Department, Ambassador Marc Grossman, said that “a strong American diplomacy needs a strong State Department built on the foundations of unique Civil and Foreign services, reformed and ready to meet twenty-first century challenges and obligations.”
A metaphor for the Department’s campaign to nullify the Act is what can only be described as an Orwellian effort which the Academy says should end immediately to un-name the Foreign Service and decommission Foreign Service Officers by removing these words and phrases from the official vocabulary, and by referring to FSOs as “generalists” rather than by their legal status as officers. The 1980 Act created a Foreign Service and Foreign Service Officers, and should be respected.
Third, the Academy report highlights the urgent need to improve the recruitment, training and career development of the Foreign Service and calls for a radical modernization of the Civil Service personnel system to make it more flexible and stronger.
The report concludes that urgent action is required on the Academy’s 23 recommendations. Unless something is done and done swiftly, America’s diplomacy, which is today at risk, will tomorrow not be able to meet the needs and aspirations of the American people in the twenty-first century.
The Academy’s mission is to support and strengthen U.S. diplomacy and enhance public appreciation of its critical role in advancing the national interest.
---
---
The report can be found April 1 at www.academyofdiplomacy.org.
Contact: Aimee Stoltz, Managing Director, American Academy of Diplomacy, astoltz@academyofdiplomacy.org, 202-331-3721
Contact: Aimee Stoltz, Managing Director, American Academy of Diplomacy, astoltz@academyofdiplomacy.org, 202-331-3721
Niciun comentariu:
Trimiteți un comentariu