Summer School Alumnus Erik Colombeau from France under the Spotlight
Summer School for Young Diplomats “Gavro Vuković” manages to spark long lasting connections and creates alumni network that is of vital significance.
We will put some additional light on alumni from different corners of the globe and find out, through 10 questions, what they are doing now and what perception they have about contemporary international relations but also what kind of messages they have for future Summer School participants.
We are pleased to have Erik Colombeau from France under the spotlight.
- Describe your career path in 100 words.
My diplomatic career is not really a linear path, more like a winding one! I got integrated to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2000 after passing a national competitive exam. My first job at HQ in Paris was financial manager at the « Crisis and support center ». Then, for my first assignment abroad, I was sent to Tokyo, Japan, and to Ottawa, Canada, where I spent 3 years in each country, also as a financial and HR manager. [I must take a short interlude here to pay tribute to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs who gives the opportunity to get promoted based on credit and experience.]
OMG, I got promoted in 2008! So then HQ explained that I should now « dive » into politics and complex diplomacy: I was thus appointed desk officer for Bosnia & Herzegovina and for Regional cooperation. What a dive into complexity! I discovered this incredible Balkan region and that is precisely when I had this huge opportunity to attend the Summer School for Young Diplomats “Gavro Vuković” in 2011. [I must take a second short interlude here to explain that HQ in Paris is always in need for diplomats who want to deal with « Management affairs » called « Secretary General » in our internal jargon.]
So after 3 years as a desk officer, HQ asked if I would mind going back to Management affairs and being assigned in Vienna, Austria, as General Secretary for our Bilateral Embassy, our Permanent Representation to the UN and our Permanent Representation to the OSCE. Of course, I said: “I don’t mind at all!” (Honestly, who can refuse an assignment in Vienna?…) And I spent 4 wonderful years there (where I was lucky to meet again with my dear Lourdes ZOZAYA whom I knew during the Summer school in Montenegro!).
And then HQ came to me again, asking if I would mind being General Secretary of the French diplomatic and consular network in Germany, based in Berlin. Of course, I said: “I don’t mind at all!” (Honestly, who can refuse an assignment in Berlin?…) And I spent 4 wonderful years there.
I should have gone back to Paris in 2020 but HQ came to me yet again, asking if I would mind being General Secretary of the French diplomatic and consular network in the US, based in Washington DC. You already know the rest of the story. I arrived in Washington DC last summer.
[Sorry, it took more than a 100 words but I promise to counterbalance with my next answers… Isn’t that a truly diplomatic offer?!]
2. Your Summer School experience in one sentence.
A unique opportunity to create a great network by getting to know diplomats from all over the world, while acquiring professional knowledge and skills and enjoying the wonderful people and landscapes of Montenegro.
3. What are the major global challenges of diplomacy at the 21st century?
Without a doubt, I am convinced that fighting and adapting to climate change is the “generic” challenge of diplomacy this century because it has so many connections and consequences today on all the other challenges we have to face [it always had actually, but it’s just that in the past we were not conscious nor yet concerned] among which security and prevention of conflicts, development, inequality, human and social rights, cooperation in research, healthcare, etc.
4. What skills and knowledge the emerging generation of diplomats should focus on?
Besides the basic skills and knowledge any diplomat should have, I would point out one particular “state of mind” that I find absolutely necessary on a daily basis: whatever the type of situations you have to analyze and to deal with, be convinced that the solution never relies on binary options. Between the white and the black colors, you find multiple shades of grey and believe me, grey offers so many more answers – and therefore pleasure and interest. As a matter of fact, and although I may appear a little bit “old-schoolish”, I must say that I do not like social networks like Twitter which limits the size of the expression. It limits at the same time the complexity and the diversity of the world. It particularly narrows and impoverishes that “grey shades area” that I cherish so much. I would encourage the younger generation of diplomats to never restrain their expression, as complexity, diversity and shades are an important part of what diplomacy is supposed to be.
5. How Summer School might contribute to empowering young diplomats?
Summer School contributes to empowering young diplomats by creating a lasting network of colleagues with whom you can maintain contacts and exchanges all career long. It helps you realize that you are part of a global scheme and even if our respective countries have different interests or opposite points of view on specific topics, negotiation always appears the best solution (or the least bad) and a good network is always worth.
I remember very well one concrete practice in which we had to engage during the “Gavro Vuković” Summer School. The group was split in two. Each member of each group was facing a member of the other group at the center of the room and was supposed to convince the other to follow him or her to the opposite edge of the room where his group originally belonged. So everyone was trying to persuade the other, chatting and developing arguments on how his or her edge of the room was better, and nicer, etc. When the coach stopped the exercise, most of us where still standing at the center of the room. The coach asked us to analyze the situation, see how difficult a negotiation could be when everyone stands on its position and made us realize that the solution perhaps relied on a simple offer: “What if I come first with you to your edge of the room, but then, you come with me to my edge of the room? That would be a win-win solution, wouldn’t it?” Negotiation and persuasion require a minimum of trust. That was one of the various empowering moments I benefited from the Summer School.
6. World after COVID 19? What diplomacy can do to support post COVID 19 recovery?
I fear the world after COVID 19 will still be a world with COVID 19 (or 20, or 21…) in which we will have to adapt constantly and quicker than before. It is likely that diplomacy will have to focus even more on securing the food and the energy chains of production, as well as promoting international cooperation in science and (bio)technology particularly in multilateral organizations. It will also probably have its part in rebuilding or favoring new economical patterns because we clearly entered a new era.
7. What could be the role of “vaccine diplomacy” in shaping the future international relations?
I am always a bit skeptical when it comes to qualifying certain types of diplomacy such as “sport diplomacy” or, now, “vaccine diplomacy”. The background stays the same: strong economical stakes, harsh competition and potential conflicts. Diplomacy, whatever it is qualified with, should aim at preventing the conflicts by defining common interests. Maybe the only difference is that a “vaccine diplomacy” should try to overcome more than ever the traditional national and private interests and focus on the greater good of mankind, particularly in multilateral organizations. [Please, forgive my ingenuity!]
8. If you could recommend a book on diplomacy and international relations to global community of young diplomats, what would it be?
There are so many good theoretical books on diplomacy but honestly, I am more a novel kind of guy so I would go for a William BOYD novel called “A good man in Africa” which relates the tribulations of a British diplomat in a fictional country of West Africa. Humor is generally a good approach, particularly to diplomacy.
9. Your recommendation / advice for the future participants of Summer School for Young Diplomats “Gavro Vuković”.
Be curious and open-minded, and enjoy the moment! Take this opportunity to discover new ways of thinking and make friends with colleagues you will be delighted to meet again later in your career. And of course, do not forget to discover Montenegro and its people: so much to learn from a political, geographical, historical, sociological point of view and therefore, so much to remember!
10. Your suggestion for empowering Summer School Alumni Network.
As my dear friend and colleague Lu ZOZAYA wrote in her contribution, initiatives such as this one contributes to empowering the Summer School Alumni Network and to reactivate some connections that might have been lost or weakened. The use of social networks options such as “groups” etc. can be a good way to enlarge the network to all “Gavro Vuković” Summer School sessions, as we usually don’t know our colleagues from the other sessions.
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to express myself here (with more than 280 characters…) and for your reading! Merci beaucoup.
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The XIV Summer School for Young Diplomats will take place in period from 5 to 9 July 2021.
Stay connected and find out more about this year’s topics, speakers and participants.