Promoted by Senator Lilian Samaniego of the ANR, the bill that seeks to modify Law 1335/99, of the “Diplomatic and Consular Service” seeks to expand the quota occupied by people who do not belong to the race from 20% to 50% . In this way, it is intended that the Executive can select as consuls more officials who are not part of the ladder, but have a great capacity to perform in their functions.
The parliamentarian Samaniego labels the current law, without the suggested modifications, as a regulation of waste, accommodations and privileges. In a press conference, the senator declared that the bill was carried out in a great consensus among different designers from different caucuses.
“We are looking for a law that makes the Foreign Ministry a more modern, orderly and inclusive institution that is no longer anchored in the past. They say that it is unconstitutional, when we did the project with constitutionalists, they also comment that we want to put 500 officials out the window, when it is not like that ”, Samaniego determined.
The senator argued that with the new law, “as many officials as they say will not enter, and they will only cost about G. 10 billion a year, which would be US $ 1 and a half million.
Likewise, he reiterated that it is not about manipulating the diplomatic ladder, but about modernizing and ranking according to the academic training of the officials who already have seniority in the Chancellery and are from the administrative sector, they will not modify anything related to the diplomatic area.
OSVALDO BITTAR
“The whole truth of what is happening in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not being told, since the truths are only half exposed,” said the Minister of Embassies, Osvaldo Bittar.
He added that everything is due to a question of the level of remuneration of officials, since previously those named earned more than those promoted, a fact that was reversed in reality.
In this sense, Bittar said that the bill strips that complaint directed towards the level of income that divides the officials of Foreign Relations.
“And Senator Lilian Samaniego tells something very true: the Foreign Ministry is managed by an elite of officials. Many believe that she only wants to put political quotas, but it is not like that because it goes beyond that, “he said.
JULIO VERA
Also in an interview for Radio Libre, Julio Vera, who was Paraguay’s ambassador to Bolivia, Argentina and is a broad connoisseur of public administration, stated that in the Foreign Ministry of all ranks, only one segment has taken preparation courses in the Diplomatic Academy. “Specifically, no minister and ambassador have taken the courses.”
On the other hand, Vera stressed that within the administrative and technical sector there is a wide range of people who have a high level of preparation, but do not enjoy the same privileges as the senior officials; Only they go abroad, sign agreements, while the administrative staff is cloistered, continued the diplomat.
In this way, the professional stated that, in general terms, the bill gives the possibility for more people, such as those in the administrative sector, to access levels that are privileges for the ranks.
NOELIA LÓPEZ
In an interview with Benjamín Fernández Bogado, on Radio Libre, Noelia López, president of the Association of Diplomats of Paraguay (Adep), stressed that the bill goes against the entire administrative process and the search to strengthen the Foreign Ministry with people prepared and trained.
“Ideas, ranks and careers are mixing. The diplomatic and consular profession is not the same as an administrative or technical one. In no way could Adep or diplomats be against salary improvements for officials in the administrative and technical sector ”, he clarified, referring to the positions that put diplomats as enemies of the financial benefit of the technical area.
Thus, he expressed that any Foreign Ministry has a professional makeup. The bill guarantees that the president has the possibility of appointing 50% of those who he believes are the most pertinent for an embassy, be these professional technicians of the institution or a politician.
In this way, he ruled that the professionalization process is in serious danger for reasons that escape from a Paraguay that prides itself on having a rule of law as such, where the rules are followed and not discussed.
“Would it be a true modernization of the National Chancellery for the consuls to be oblivious to the race? It is totally an affront to what is established in the convention of goods and consular relations, which in Article 1 says that they must be career or honorary, “he concluded.
