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DE RUEHFR #2302/01 3541702
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R 191702Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5108
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 002302 
 
SENSITIVE 
NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION 
 
Department for E, F, M, S/P, the Director General and Transition 
Team 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV EAID ECON AMGT SENV PREL FR
SUBJECT: FRANCE GOES GLOBAL --REFORM AT THE QUAI D'ORSAY 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Proposed reform at the French Ministry of Foreign 
and European affairs (MFA) will create a new "globalization" 
directorate (to be headed by E equivalent Christian Masset), 
designed to encourage proactive policy in dealing with global 
issues.  In development, the MFA will focus on strategy rather than 
implementation, with responsibility for the latter devolving to the 
French Development Agency (AFD) and overseas missions, where 
ambassadors will have direct control and responsibility for 
development projects and budget management.  The proposals are 
causing a stir, with the release of a series of controversial 
reports and critical press articles, some of which claim ambassadors 
are taking the project less-than-seriously.  The reform reflects, 
and may reinforce, current GOF predilection for broad-based, 
paradigm-shifting initiatives.  Through the reform, the MFA is 
attempting to reassert its authority in foreign policymaking. 
Parliament will vote on the reform in early 2009.  End summary. 
 
WHY MFA REFORM NOW 
- - - - - - - - - - 
¶2.  (SBU) In response to the rise of global issues, and following a 
number of reports on French administrative reform, the MFA is 
changing its organization chart and post operations.  "Diplomacy by 
influence" is an attempt to shape globalization through European 
democratic values and to promote French contributions in human 
rights, development policy, culture, language, and ideas. 
 
INSTITUTIONAL MAKE-UP 
 - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶3.  (SBU) The MFA reform aims to incorporate global issues into 
policymaking institutionally, and to reduce the number of MFA 
directorates.  The International Cooperation and Development 
Directorate is merging with Economics and Finance to become "Global 
Affairs and Partnerships".  It will have four poles of activity, and 
will be directed by current Economic Director Christian Masset, who 
is also the G-8 Foreign Affairs Sous-Sherpa.  The "Attraction and 
Mobility" pole regroups all large state-led contracts and programs 
in economics, business development, education, science and 
technology.  The second pole pulls together programs in "French 
Culture and Language," including audio-visual.  The third, "Global 
Public Goods," will tackle global issues: environment, biodiversity, 
finance, energy, water, health, and migration.  The fourth is 
"Global Economy and Development Strategies," a particularly active 
policy area for France, MFA officials note. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The previous economic forecasting body transforms into a 
policy planning directorate.  It will collect input from academia, 
think tanks, and civil society and focus on long term foreign policy 
formulation and analysis.  In pushing reform, Minister Kouchner has 
said foreign policy is "not just about politics," the MFA needs a 
multidisciplinary perspective.  It should carry out trend analyses, 
for instance on religious movements and demographic patterns.  He 
asked French ambassadors at an annual gathering in August how they 
could analyze the situation in Myanmar, the Middle East, or the U.S. 
elections, without understanding the interplay of religion and 
politics.  At some embassies, existing MFA-funded archeological and 
social science research centers (staffed with French researchers) 
will reorient activities and interact with a broader realm of 
private and official local contacts. 
 
CREATION OF A CRISIS CENTER 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶5.  (SBU) International crisis management will be centralized.  The 
brain child of Kouchner, the MFA crisis center opened soon after the 
start of the French EU Presidency.  Kouchner told French ambassadors 
its role would be pivotal in an era where "there are more crises 
than wars."  MFA contacts said it is part of an effort to operate 
less reactively and demonstrate leadership through global crisis 
reporting and assessment.  The MFA crisis center has a staff of 50, 
operating 24/7, with an annual budget of USD 13 million (taken from 
existing programs).  It acts as a command center for organizing 
humanitarian action, coordinating efforts by French agencies, 
service providers in the field, NGOs, and ensuring links to foreign 
governments.  It also monitors the welfare of French citizens 
abroad. 
 
STRONGER GEOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORATES 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶6.  (SBU) The reform aims to give more political influence to 
geographical directorates, which will be spared budget cuts to 
better quantify, report, and oversee all GOF interagency activity in 
the field.  The goal is to provide a broad-based integrated 
assessment of foreign policy initiatives, including French public 
services, bilateral and multilateral partners.  Moreover, the MFA 
hopes to reclaim leadership over foreign policy areas where it has 
lost influence in recent years (including immigration, sustainable 
development and industry/commercial policy).  (Comment: GOF 
ministries responsible for immigration, economy, and research have 
 
PARIS 00002302  002 OF 003 
 
 
opened international offices that, in many instances, escape MFA/COM 
authority.  End Comment.)  Recognizing the growing investment of 
NGOs, private sector actors, and charitable foundations in global 
affairs, the reform is designed to better leverage MFA's limited 
development aid through public-private partnerships, according to 
our MFA contacts. 
 
POST OPERATIONS 
- - - - - - - - 
¶7.  (U) A new system of classifying embassies will result in staff 
cuts and significant reallocation of resources.  France's 160 
embassies will fall into three categories:  30 large embassies, 
universal in policy scope; 100 mid-sized embassies with focused 
missions relevant to local issues; and 30 small diplomatic "presence 
posts" or observation posts with younger, relatively junior and 
inter-functional ambassadors. (Note: MFA contacts tell us France is 
taking a page from the American Presence Post playbook.)  France is 
also shifting representation geographically from OECD countries 
toward emergent powers and "nations in crisis".  It opened four 
consulates in the last 18 months (Calcutta and Bangalore, India, 
Chengdu and Shenyang, China, Yekaterinburg, Russia, and Erbil, 
Northern Iraq), and a total of 16 new embassies are planned.  Since 
1989, 56 overseas posts have been closed, and 47 opened. 
 
¶8. (SBU) On development, the MFA will increasingly rely on the field 
experience of its ambassadors for program implementation and 
interagency coordination.  The COM will decide development policy, 
based on broad strategic goals outlined in multiyear GOF development 
strategies, and exercise a greater fiduciary role to improve 
cost-effectiveness of post operations.  Cultural attaches, the 
French Development Agency (AFD) and (in a departure from current 
practice) French contractors, will report to the ambassador.  AFD, 
which falls under the authority of both the MFA and the Ministry of 
Finance, will take on a more robust, overarching project management 
role at overseas posts. 
 
RESULTS ORIENTED DIPLOMACY 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶9.  (SBU) Foreign Minister Kouchner says the changes are also 
designed to move the MFA toward a "culture of results."  Previous 
performance indicators, such as the number of cables sent by posts, 
are under review.  In what press reports are calling a 
"revolutionary" move, ambassadors' compensation will be adjusted 
upward for hardship and danger environments (Kabul, Islamabad, 
Algiers, Beirut, Baghdad), while others will see salaries drop.  The 
MFA reform is also designed to support broader GOF cost-cutting 
efforts.  To prepare for reforms, ambassadors were to submit a 
three-year plan by October that would outline staff and operating 
cost cuts.  The majority have not done so. A new Senate report 
criticizes MFA management for failing to press ambassadors on the 
importance of the exercise for moving forward with public sector 
reform.  But Budget Minister Eric Woerth, who has responsibility for 
overall GOF public sector cost-cutting efforts, reports "no problem" 
with ambassadors in this regard. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) MFA contacts told EmbOff they are feeling the strain of 
reform, and the need to produce results with fewer resources.  Since 
2000, the MFA has reduced its operating expenses by 21 percent. 
From 1997 to 2007 it cut staff by 11 percent.  Another 700 positions 
will be cut by attrition in the next three years, with only one out 
of every two retirees scheduled to be replaced.  In the last two 
years this policy affected contractors and overseas technical 
assistance slots.  But in 2009-2011 it will be expanded to career 
officer positions.  The MFA also will consolidate its operations 
into a smaller number of facilities in Paris and its suburbs.  Where 
feasible, missions abroad will be collocated with EU partners. 
France already has opened joint missions with Germany and the UK in 
some locations. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Comment:  The ambition of Kouchner's "Ministry of 
Globalization" is for France to influence political and economic 
globalization, not react to it.  The reform reflects -- and may 
reinforce -- this government's foreign economic policy penchant for 
the cross-sectoral strategic approach to emerging global governance 
issues, whether warranted or not.  Rumblings of a "post-Doha" WTO 
that could better account for climate change and other externalities 
(as very roughly sketched out on various occasions by Trade Minister 
Idrac and others), or the GOF's initial vision for the Global Food 
Partnership that would have incorporated everything from trade 
policy to climate change, come to mind.  Should the MFA reform bear 
fruit (which is far from certain), it may take the form of more of 
these sorts of initiatives.  We should welcome the opportunity to 
engage with France on creative, cross-disciplinary approaches to 
common challenges.  We should be wary of efforts to dress up 
protectionist notions (such as "societal preferences") in the guise 
of new approaches to managing globalization. 
 
 
PARIS 00002302  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶12. (SBU) Comment (continued):  In the near-term the reform is 
likely to have the most impact on the implementation of French 
development policy.  AFD and French overseas missions should emerge 
in a stronger position, with reinforced policy implementation 
responsibilities over a broader range of sectors.  Presumably this 
could facilitate on-site donor cooperation/coordination with the 
French.  Conversely, the profile of the French junior minister for 
development cooperation (currently Alain Joyandet) may be 
diminished.  With the MFA's development directorate being subsumed 
into a broader "globalization" directorate, and other 
responsibilities being hived off to AFD, the junior minister's 
authority becomes more diffuse.  (This cable was drafted by 
Embassy's 2007-2008 Transatlantic Diplomatic Fellow.) 
 
PEKALA