PARIS — Fatigue is visible on their faces, and tension emanates from their bodies. It is June 22, 2023, and since dawn, they have been roaming the halls of the Palais Brongniart in Paris, where the Summit on a New Global Financial Pact is being held.
No fewer than 120 state delegations and NGOs, as well as 40 heads of state and government must be managed, and there are themed events and a heap of round tables to organize.
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The format of this international meeting, announced by French President Emmanuel Macron during the G20 in Nov. 2022 in Bali, is exceptional for the agents of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, who are responsible for protocol. It is also a challenge for these diplomats tasked with providing hospitality à la française — the natural extension of a nation which has always aimed to play a major role on the global stage.
From the six months of the French Presidency of the European Union’s Council to the International Conference in Support of Ukraine, the official visits of India’s prime minister and King Charles III, the Rugby World Cup and the international humanitarian conference for Gaza’s civilian population — over the past two years, the 110 members of the Department of State Protocol and Diplomatic Events (its official name) have not been idle.
And 2024 promises to be even busier, with the 80th anniversary of the Normandy and Provence landings, the Francophonie Summit in Villers-Cotterêts, visits from leaders, and of course, the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris and across France. On top of that are the numerous day-to-day activities.
“The Protocol is there to make sure that everything goes smoothly: the reception in France of high-ranking foreign personalities; the big ceremonies where everyone must know where their seat is; foreign diplomats’ missions in France,” writes former ambassador Daniel Jouanneau in Souvenirs d’un chef du Protocole (2021) — a position he held from 1993 to 1997.
For President Charles de Gaulle, protocol was above all “the expression of order in the Republic,” Jouanneau recalls. An order that begins with absolute discretion from those responsible for it. “We are in the shadows, anonymous,” one of the agents says.
All about the details
When it comes to diplomatic relations, every little thing has a meaning. Both substance and style matter. The image of France is at stake and, even more so, its capacity to influence a particularly unstable international scene. In this context, pomp is a significant weapon.
This is evident with the “quasi-state” visit of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on France’s National Day on July 14. Everything was there: the red carpet and music from the entire Republican Guard at the airport, with the presence of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, the arms ceremony at Les Invalides, the presentation of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor by Emmanuel Macron, the place as guest of honor in the official stand of the military parade, the state dinner at the Louvre with more than 200 guests and the fireworks seen from the Eiffel Tower.
Modi was full of praise, calling it a “memorable” visit.
But apart from the pomp, there are also elements that are less visible or, at the very least, that an eye untrained to diplomacy would not perceive or not necessarily deem as important. The menus for an official lunch or dinner, for example. Established according to the taste of French authorities, the inviting power, they nevertheless take into account possible constraints, incompatibilities, or even the guests’ personal requirements. Modi was treated to an entirely vegetarian menu during the July 14 dinner.
Both substance and style matter.
Another detail: the arrangement of the flags. At a joint press conference at the Quai d’Orsay between a French foreign minister and a foreign counterpart, the French colors are always placed on the right, while the European flag is set to its left or right depending on whether the counterpart is from an EU country or not.
Seating plans, arrangements for exchanging gifts, where and by whom a minister is welcomed and escorted during an interview at the Quai d’Orsay, strict compliance with schedules, placement of photographers — the list of things the Protocol department must take care of is endless. “All visits, regardless of the length of stay or the size of the delegations, deserve the same attention,” an agent says.
Discretion, self-control, listening
The Department of State Protocol and Diplomatic Events is divided into five areas: ceremonial staff, management of the foreign diplomatic community in France, logistical assistance for the organization of international conferences, interpreting and translation, and finally, the awards for foreign personalities.
All the agents are responsible for implementing — in close cooperation with the Communications and Press Department and the “geographical directorates” — this “grammar that allows relations with foreign countries to be formed,” the ministry explains.
“It is a State Protocol, a unique Protocol” that is heir to an old tradition dating back to the end of the 16th century, housed at the Quai d’Orsay and headed by a diplomat, explains one of its senior executives, who adds: “The president of the Republic, like the prime minister, does not have his own Protocol. And the legislative arm is managed separately: the National Assembly and the Senate each have their own protocol services.”
In practice, the Protocol office’s number two is in charge of the prime minister, and its director personally takes care of the president of the Republic. Last June, Frédéric Billet, who was ambassador to Estonia and Poland, was reinstated to the position he had assumed between 2016 and 2019.
In addition to the proverbial discretion, the state mission requires self-control, listening skills and flexibility. “A visit, in France or abroad, is a point of balance — unstable in most cases — between two protocol services,” an agent says. “There is always some negotiation between what France requests from us and what the partner country is envisioning.”
Everything is discussed during preparatory meetings and visits, at a frequency that varies, depending on the scale of the event. For King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s visit in September, several working sessions took place at the start of the year and around two weeks before their arrival. While the trip was initially set for March, it was postponed at the last minute due to protests against the government’s pension reform.
Deal with the unexpected, everywhere, at all time
For these exceptional events, and even more so for ordinary ones, time is a rare commodity — very rare indeed for Protocol personnel, in an era where the pace of the world is accelerating. Trying to ward off the unexpected, whether large or small, is therefore a necessity. But mishaps often arise no matter what and you have to know how to deal with it.
“In our long meetings with Japan’s Protocol, we find among our interlocutors the same fear of the unexpected, as during the preparation of the imperial visit to France (in October 1994),” writes Daniel Jouanneau about of the state visit of then-President Jacques Chirac to Japan at the end of 1996.
“Other countries have an opposite model,” an agent says. “Courtesy and politeness are not the first of their concerns and their relations with others are extremely direct: a yes is a yes, a no, a no. This means there are less risks of misunderstanding. And they are extremely reactive.”
Trying to ward off the unexpected, whether large or small, is a necessity.
This is a necessary quality when 11 heads of state and five heads of government arrive at different times, some of them the day before, among thousands of veterans. It is June 6, 1994, and the celebration of the Normandy landings’ 50th anniversary has begun. A major military ceremony, accompanied by two summit lunches, is set to be a challenging exercise for the French Protocol.
“From the morning of D-day, the difficulties begin. The president of the Republic (François Mitterrand) leaves the Elysée Palace 20 minutes behind schedule — impossible to catch up over a distance as short as from Villacoublay to Caen-Carpiquet airport,” writes Daniel Jouanneau. “Bill Clinton arrived early in the morning for a Franco-American ceremony at the Pointe du Hoc, (Foreign Minister) Alain Juppé greeted him, and the president was supposed to welcome him at the airport. But the president is late, Bill Clinton is already there, and we have to avoid the image of the president of the United States welcoming ours on French territory! I rush to meet Bill Clinton, who humorously agrees to wait in a tent while the ceremony is prepared.”
Creative diplomacy
Another example of a disrupted schedule: the “2+2 format” — as the jargon goes — which, on Jan. 30, brought together the Australian and French Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Armed Forces.
The particularly tight timing derailed because of the multiple constraints of everyone’s overbooked schedules and the prospect of traveling to Brussels early the next morning for Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong in the middle of an unexpected train strike. And on top of that, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu was held up last minute at the Elysée Palace.
“Our relations with the Quai d’Orsay are close,” the Australian embassy emphasizes. “Our two protocol services coordinated perfectly, we made our officials wait a little and, once the signal was given on the French side, they were welcomed in the best conditions.”
The lunch — slightly shortened compared with the initial plan — was successful … and delicious, according to Gillian Bird, the Australian ambassador in Paris, who was present throughout the day. Fine taste is also part of influential diplomacy.
