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PERMANENT REPRESENTATION TO THE EU: A DIPLOMATIC INCIDENT?
February 2016
According to the Vienna Convention (1975) a Permanent Representation is the diplomatic mission of any State to an international organisation, for example the UN or the European Union.When a State establishes a Permanent Representation it intends to maintain stable relations with an organisation considered strategically important for its own interests.Italy has permanent representations to the European Union, the Council of Europe, the UN, the OECD, NATO, UESCO, FAI and IFAD.
WHAT IS A PERMANENT REPRESENTATION?
PERMANENT REPRESENTATION OF ITALY TO THE EU
The Permanent Representation of Italy to the European Union – also known as PermRep – is located in Brussels.Its main activities are to:
promote and defend Italy’s views to the EU, especially during the preparatory work before a Council of Ministers; maintain relations with European institutions, especially Parliament and the Commission.
In short, Permanent Representation is the real, stable contact point between Italy and the European Union!
The delegation working at Italy’s Representation to the EU is made up of employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and officials from other Administrations, according to the specific expertise required.Members of the Representation are divided according to their functions. Each group works on the dossiers regarding one of the 16 different policy areas of the European Union: the internal market, agriculture, transportation, industry etc.The Representation is headed by the Permanent Representative of Italy to the European Union.
PERMANENT REPRESENTATION TO THE EU: STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS
JANUARY 2016: CHANGING OF THE GUARD!
Since January 2016 there’s a new man in charge of Ita-lian diplomacy in Brussels: the Council of Ministers has approved the nomination of the new Permanent Repre-sentative to the European Union.
The choice fell on Carlo Calenda, De-puty Minister of Economic Develop-ment. He will replace Stefano San-nino, named Head of the Diplomatic Mission in Madrid.This is an early departure for Sannino: he had been nominated by the Letta Government and his mandate was to run for another twelve months.
Carlo Calenda graduated in Jurisprudence and specialised in International Law; nominated by Enrico Letta as Deputy Minister of Economic Development in 2013 he was confirmed by Matteo Renzi.Before entering Government Calenda worked as a business manager at Ferrari and Sky. The CV of the new Permanent Representative includes a stint in Confindustria (General Confederation of Italian Industry).As Deputy Minister of Economic Development he was responsible for foreign trade and attracting investments and, in particular, the China dossier.
CARLO CALENDA: LET’S GET TO KNOW HIM BETTER
FROM SANNINO TO CALENDA: WHY?
To understand the reasons behind this changing of the guard one must look further afield at current relations between Italy and the EU institutions, especially the European Commission.In the last few months, Matteo Renzi has adopted a much tougher standpoint vis-à-vis the EU, at least during his official statements, by asking for greater flexibility:
“I will continue to defend Italy’s interests. I don’t think credibility in Europe means always
saying yes to other people’s demands”.According to rumours coming out of Palazzo Chigi, the long-standing diplomat Stefano Sannino was considered too soft towards the EU. Calenda – a faithful Renzi aficionado – will supposedly ensure greater coherence with the Government’s new approach in the corridors in Brussels.
A HISTORIC TURNING POINT?
The Sannino-Calenda turnover could appear to be an issue for insiders only – and in fact it is to a degree! – but it may turn out to be much more important than a normal high-level turnover.Why? Because as the Head of a diplomatic mission the post of Permanent Representative has always been assigned to an Ambassador, the highest rank in a diplomatic career: Ambassador Sannino was no exception.As a politician rather than a member of the diplomatic corps, Calenda’s nomination as Head of a diplomatic mission is a Copernican revolution for Italy! The Government spoke of an “exceptional measure, taken in special circumstances”. But that did more than make career diplomats perk up their ears.
DIPLOMATS IN REVOLT
The “Calenda Affair” broke after the nomination was announced: over 250 young diplomats and veteran Ambassadors wrote two separate letters to the Government, expressing their disappointment and concern. In the letter to Renzi they wrote:
“Ambassadors aren’t made overnight. To become an ambassador you not only have to take part in a public competition,
the career requires professionalism, responsibility and continuous assessments […] We require an immediate statement
confirming the exceptional nature of this choice and reassurance that no more political nominations will be made in the future”.
The letter to the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was even more forceful: the authors of the letter asked the Ministry to “take all the appropriate and necessary steps towards reconsideration of this decision”. To be blunt: a real diplomatic incident!
ITALY FOR SALE, 2 ROOMS + FACILITIES?
On a more serious note, it appears that Italian diplomatic circles are concerned that similar choices put into practice an approach announced by previous governments, but never actually imple-mented: to turn diplomats into sim-ple “commercial agents”. Representatives without any skills and increasingly bereft of the task of making independent decisions, to the detriment of the overall quality of Italy’s Representation.
As you may have gathered, the Italian diplomatic corps was not overjoyed to learn that Carlo Calenda was to head the Italian delegation in Brussels. Why? Undoubtedly, a touch of snobbery by the Italian di-plomats, aware they belong to an élite: “you don’t want to vulgarise our profession by letting in a hack, do you?”.
Being a diplomat is not the easiest job in the world: you need to understand exactly what is your mandate, be familiar with the country where you take office, as well as its politics and history, and know what interests are at stake. This is why in the past a diplomatic career was open only to those who took part in one of the most difficult public competitions in Italy.
THE JOB DOESN’T SUIT EVERYONE…
“Ambassadors are not made overnight”.
The young diplomats are dead right. However the question remains: is winning the competition the only way you can become an Ambassador and embark on a diplomatic career?
…BUT EVERYONE CAN DO THE JOB!
Although a diplomatic career can be embarked upon only after winning the competition, and the latter is the most appropriate and widely-used method to nominate an Ambassador... it is not the only one.Immediately after the Second World War – the only other instance when non-diplomats were nominated – several members of the Committee for National Liberation were named Ambassadors: for example, Carandini (London), Tarchiani (Washington) and Penoaltea (Peking). Yes, those were indeed exceptional circumstances!Nevertheless, under Italian law no “exceptional circumstance” is needed to nominate a politician as Head of Mission: regarding Italy’s representation abroad, the Presidential Decree on Organisation n. 18/1986 does not require the government to name diplomats as Ambassadors. Some people appear to have forgotten this.
Politicians, high level officials, entre-preneurs and private citizens: theore-tically, anyone can be nominated an Ambassador! Of course you need the right skills and professional expertise, and that’s why nearly all Italian ambas-sadors are diplomats.However, elsewhere in the world Heads of Mission are often not diplomats: the United States is a case in point.
TU VUÒ FA’ L’AMERICANO? (YOU WANT TO BE AN AMERICAN?)
Former Presidents, entre-preneurs, high-level of-ficials. American ambas-sadors around the world come from very different backgrounds and are no-minated by the President based on something very similar to a spoils system: direct nomination and trust in the individual and his ex-pertise.
LA DIPLOMATIE À LA GUERRE!
The outcry by the Italian diplomats created quite a stir: was it a unionised defence by a group afraid of loosing its privileges, or a warning to protect the quality required for such a delicate role? It’s certainly not often you see “diplomats on the warpath”!
In short: to be an Ambas-sador a person needs to be experienced and have exceptional qualities. Whoever represents a coun-try has to be capable of ful-filling his/her task: in this re-spect, a diplomatic career is a guarantee. Nevertheless, there are of course people whose lives, relationships or role in society could make them ideal candidates capable of fulfilling their diplomatic mandate.
Telos Analisi & Strategie Palazzo Doria PamphiljVia del Plebiscito 107Roma 00186
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