The Diplomat in Spain

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell.

The Diplomat. 08/08/2018

The Association of Spanish Diplomats (ADE), which currently represents more than 75% of the total of members of the Spanish Diplomatic Career, yesterday expressed its concern over the appointment of three PSOE officials -Angel Ros, Juan Andrés Perelló and Manuel Escudero -to occupy the positions of ambassador in Andorra, Unesco and OECD, respectively.

«As has been reiterated by this Association, regardless of the political party that governs in our country and within the respect of the discretion of the Council of Ministers when appointing the Ambassadors of Spain, the representatives of the ADE want to manifest, once again , our disagreement with the appointment of Ambassadors called ‘political’, that is, not belonging to the Diplomatic Career», the ADE said in a statement.

That discretion can not and should not, in the opinion of this association, «become arbitrary, based on partisan criteria or serve to ensure an ‘institutional exit’ for people who want to benefit». to the detriment of diplomatic officials, who are the professionals in this matter.

«Being an ambassador of Spain is not improvised or learned in a few years. It is the ultimate consequence of a professional career that begins to overcome a demanding opposition, which follows a long experience after many years of work devoted to safeguarding the interests of Spain both abroad and in our country», recalled the ADE.

The regulation of the Diplomatic Career, now under review, established several requirements «inescapable» to become head of diplomatic mission and among them having completed, at least, 20 years of career.

The new version of the regulation that is now negotiated maintains that requirement «of a brilliant and long career» to access the position of ambassador. «It is not understood, in good logic, that an official must have completed 20 years of practice and have held a series of positions of diplomatic responsibility to aspire to be Ambassador, and who is appointed for partisan reasons, none».

In the opinion of the ADE, the appointments of ‘political’ ambassadors should be limited to the maximum and only apply very exceptionally in cases where a certain appointment indisputably favors the interest of Spain.

«In the ADE we trust that these appointments are truly very isolated cases and we hope that these reflections will contribute to an optimal decision-making in the interests of Spain in the field of our foreign policy», the statement concludes.