The Diplomat
The Board of Directors of the Association of Spanish Diplomats (ADE) yesterday issued a statement defending former EU State Secretary Juan González-Barba in the face of attacks launched against him by the UGT trade union section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
González-Barba was dismissed from his post on 21 December, after it emerged that he had serious disagreements with Foreign Affairs Minister José Manuel Albares.
On 30 December, the trade union section of the UGT sent a letter to the “todomaec” mailing list, which all employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs receive, questioning the actions of the former State Secretary. In its message, the union stressed that when there are changes in the Ministry, some senior officials “tend to believe that they are the real experts and behave like ministers in the area”.
In this sense, and citing information that appeared in the press, UGT defended the fact that Albares wanted to accompany Sánchez in the EU councils, “since he is responsible for all foreign policy”, “a decision that did not please the aforementioned secretary” who ended up “resigning, but not before airing such disagreements”.
He argued that senior officials should be required to “strictly fulfil their responsibilities and be loyal to the government that appoints them and, of course, to the minister who proposes them, accepting the directives that are required of them and always working for the benefit of the country”.
“Resigning one year into the European Presidency in such a stentorian manner is not the best sign of sanity and good sense, but we recognise that there are people like that and that in many cases they abuse the good faith of the superiors who trusted them,” the UGT message concluded.
Yesterday, the ADE, which groups together more than 65 per cent of the Ministry’s diplomats, responded with a note condemning what it considers “a new public accusation by the UGT against a foreign service official, on this occasion against one of our associates, Mr González Barba”. And it recalls that the former State Secretary has been a member of the diplomatic service for more than 30 years “and has an impeccable professional career marked by his vocation for public service”.
The ADE reproaches the UGT for accusing González-Barba of various matters “merely on the basis of information published in the press and not verified, attacking his good name”. The accusations made against our colleague,” the note states, “represent a public accusation that we consider inappropriate for an organisation with the historical background of the union that has made them and which we believe has no place in the General State Administration.
Finally, the ADE takes the opportunity to condemn “the abusive use” which, in its opinion, the UGT union is making of the “todomaec” mailing list. “It does not seem reasonable that this list, which should be restricted to communications that are of real interest and usefulness to all employees of this Ministry, should be used for other purposes, as in this case in which it has been used to discredit our colleague Juan González-Barba”.
