As EU Implements a Diplomatic Service, Eastern European Diplomats Are Snubbed for Not Agreeing on a Rosy View of Russia

« La frustration est particulièrement forte en matière de relations extérieures, constate un responsable polonais, le recrutement de nos ressortissants a été bloqué par crainte de leur russophobie présumée. »

As the European Union starts implementing a union-wide diplomatic service, writes Philippe Ricard in Le Monde, with 6,000 positions to fill, diplomats from Eastern and Central Europe feel left out. With the singular exception of Poland's Jerzy Buzek, elected head of the European Parliament in July 2009, only an infinitely small number of Eastern and Central Europeans have been nominated to fill one of the 136 European delegations throughout the world.

And the reason for the stiffing, it is believed, is because the alleged Russophobia of the former Warsaw Pact countries prevents them from seeing their Russian neighbor in a rosy enough light…