/ world today news/ The new appointments being prepared for the heads of Bulgarian diplomatic missions abroad were announced in the media, which inevitably cause comments. Apart from the well-prepared management staff from the MFA, having diplomatic education and appropriate professional experience, among the proposals made there are again too many “external to the diplomatic service” candidates who cannot serve as a certificate of quality of these nominations.
It is a pity that some of the “political appointments” of people who have not studied diplomacy and do not have a single day of experience in a lower diplomatic rank – in the country or abroad – will increase the low-quality part of the “political quota” provided for in the law for the diplomatic service. I offer a few “uncombed thoughts” as a comment on one of these proposals, which shocks with its glaring failure.
After 38 years of diplomatic work, 15 of which I have worked “on the ground” with various international organizations in Geneva, I can predict that Mrs. Deyana Kostadinova, proposed as the permanent representative of Bulgaria in Geneva, will feel very uncomfortable and lonely there and is likely to develop an occupational inferiority complex. To understand this one must know that all the respectable permanent representatives in Geneva, New York, Vienna and Paris are «experts of high diplomatic rank». In some other world capitals that are also the headquarters of international organizations, bilateral ambassadors with appropriate multilateral experience should also do this work. Only from such «multilateral diplomats», the country appointing them and the UN can derive some benefit, and they themselves can get satisfaction from the work they have done. This determines the nature of their complex and professional activity, style and communication contacts in these «capitals of multilateral diplomacy» in the UN system.
Given her relatively short «labor and social professional experience», Mrs. Deyana Kostadinova will inevitably have to concentrate on the work of our mission with the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Geneva, where probably her only official or personal contacts are as a former social minister, unfortunately for only 2 months. This will inevitably lead to its alienation from the activities of a number of other important international organizations, incl. the huge Office of the United Nations and international organizations in Geneva. She will probably simply understand next to nothing about the substance of their work and will feel quite isolated and even oppressed by her inability to contribute to their work with any meaningful ideas or diplomatic démarches. This will probably “lock” her in her office in our mission in Geneva and not allow her to learn what “multilateral diplomats” learn only through long daily work at UN meetings. In this context, it should be borne in mind that it takes about 7 years of continuous work at lower diplomatic ranks to enter essentially into the activities of the UN or any other international organization of its system. None of these things appear in the biographical reference for the initial academic training and professional commitment of Mrs. Deyana Kostadinova.
In view of this, another attrition of this very important for Bulgaria “multilateral diplomatic” post in the UN system is taking shape. The probable reason is the incompetent understanding and treatment of the functions of the permanent representative as an internal «social activity» to «arrange a job abroad» for one more «our person», who managed to settle in an office suitable for the purpose, where another « a key leading politician” can thank for the “suffering service”. This also happened under the totalitarian regime, where deserving regional party secretaries or inconvenient ministers were appointed to suitable diplomatic posts abroad. However, to do this with the “multilateral leadership posts” abroad is tantamount to a crime against the diplomatic service. It should be known that this type of diplomatic activity at the executive level is fundamentally different from the work of bilateral ambassadors. In bilateral work, an educated, smart and hardworking “external staff” can relatively quickly enter the work and acquire “diplomatic conditioning” in just a year or two, in order to get the opportunity to contribute to the realization of Bulgaria’s interests and represent our country good. This does not work in the UN system at all.
If Ms. Deyana Kostadinova hopes to use her internship in Geneva to find a job as an international employee in an intergovernmental organization, e.g. at the International Labor Organization (ILO), even greater disappointment awaits her. Due to her atypical professional biography for this field and her rapid rise in the state ranking list, formally she only became the Director General of the ILO or his deputy, which is practically impossible for her to happen. For reference, see on the ILO website the biography of its current Director-General, the British Guy Ryder, as well as those of the other leaders of international organizations in Geneva. Also compare it with the work biographies of Mrs. Irina Bokova, Mrs. Kristalina Georgieva or Mrs. Miglena Kuneva, who have been or are still working in similar diplomatic posts.
At each lower post of an international employee, whose salary is still too tempting for any “newly converted” senior civil servant in Bulgaria (the lowest management level (P-5) it is about four to five times greater than that of the President of Bulgaria, not to mention the “pension bonuses”), Mrs. Deyana Kostadinova will be defined as “administratively over-qualified”. In the delicate diplomatic language of the UN and international organizations, this means an outright ban on her candidacy being considered further, leaving her without consequences. Such was the fate of all “external candidates” uninitiated in the “personnel games” of the UN, who did not have proper diplomatic training and did not have the courage to tear a few layers of clothes at the banks of conferences in the UN system, working as experts at a lower diplomatic rank.
Despite everything, I am ready to give a few private lessons – without recognition or payment – to the new permanent representative of Bulgaria in Geneva, if someone can be found to inform her about this «advance bonus». It is good that Ms. Deyana Kostadinova is not offended by my revelations and sincere invitation for help, but (secretly or openly) to contact me to specify the form of her preparatory activity. You have to believe me that the inevitable formal preliminary training at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot be sufficient for her in this diplomatic field. So far I have helped with advice or trained several people like her, and we also have something in common in our names. Bulgaria’s good performance in Geneva is too dear to my heart to let the candidate suffer too early and prolonged dissatisfaction, professional disappointment and possible stress disorders in Geneva. It would be best, of course, for her to give up – on some convincing pretext – her proposed post in Geneva and be reassigned to some bilateral diplomatic position which might give her an opportunity to learn something useful in the field of diplomacy, and and to contribute with his “labour and social” knowledge, which is really important for Bulgaria. This will provide her with a healthier and more promising future in our country.
I want to reassure those who might suspect me of impure personal accounts that after 24 years of working abroad with the UN and in the secretariats of other international organizations – as a representative of Bulgaria or as an international official at a senior level in Geneva, New York, The Hague and Vienna – I no longer have any desire to go on diplomatic work abroad. However, I am worried about the inadequate presentation of our diplomatic representatives abroad, which inevitably causes ridicule and regret among their educated foreign colleagues at the expense of Bulgaria’s international image.
* The author is a Doctor of Science, currently an independent consultant, a career senior diplomat (MFA, 1975 – 2013), specialized in the United Nations and held leadership positions in several international organizations of its system in Geneva, New York, The Hague and Vienna (1973 – 2013).
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