IV. Agrément

Lead-in

When one government wishes to accredit an ambassador or a minister to another government, it is necessary that the appointee should be approved by the government of the country to which he is being assigned. It is customary, in order to avoid personal embarrassments, to sound a foreign government privately before making a formal application for an agrément.

Task 1. Read the text and answer the checkup questions:

1. What is the usual procedure of appointing an ambassador or a minister to another government?

2. Why is it necessary to sound a foreign government privately before making a formal application for an agrément?

3. What provisions are laid down in Article 4 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations?

4. When is the appointment of an ambassador or a minister usually announced?

5. When can an ambassador-designate be admitted to the exercise of his functions?

6. What can be the reason for refusal of the agrément?

7. How should agrément be distinguished from agréation?

Article 4 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations provides:

"1. The sending State must make certain that the agrément of the receiving State has been given for the person it proposes to accredit as head of the mission to that State.

2. The receiving State is not obliged to give reasons to the sending State for a refusal of agrément."

The sending state may, after it has given due notification to the receiving states concerned, accredit a head of mission or assign any member of the diplomatic staff, as the case may be, to more than one state, unless there is express objection by any of the receiving states.

It is only when the agrément is secured that the ambassador-designate should take steps to proceed to the receiving state. Even then he should move with leisurely dignity.

If he is a non-career diplomat, he will then discover that ambassadors do not start their jobs like ordinary mortals in less lofty walks of life. It is not good to book a seat on the first airplane to the foreign capital. In fact it is particularly undignified to appear too eager to get down to work. There is a certain stylized, slow-motion pace that must be observed. Several weeks are usually allowed to elapse before the announcement of the appointment and the departure.

Task 2. Read the text again and find Ukrainian equivalents for the words in bold.

Task 3. Read the text below and fill in the gaps with suitable words:

1. government 2. ambassador 3. notice

4. numerous 5. distinguished 6. receiving

There have been a) … cases of refusal of the agrément, the grounds ranging from the fact that the nomination was made suddenly and without previous b) … to the facts that the proposed envoy had made a speech critical of the c) … state, or the nominee had accorded ill treatment to the nationals of the receiving state.

It is not proper for one d) … to intimate in any way to another that the appointment of a particular person as e) … would be agreeable to it.

Agréation should be f) … from agrément in that the former is the process of determining whether the proposed envoy is acceptable to the receiving state, while the latter is the approval of the nomination by the receiving state.

Task 4. Match the terms with their definitions. Consult the dictionary if necessary:

accreditation agrément agréation diplomacy diplomat diplomatic agent diplomatic bag (diplomatic pouch) diplomatic corps diplomatic immunity diplomatic service

the exemption from local laws and taxation accorded to a diplomatic staff abroad a bag containing diplomatic mail a branch of public service concerned with the representation of a country abroad the collective heads of foreign diplomatic missions and their staffs in the capital of the country head of the mission or a member of the diplomatic staff of the mission 1. one engaged in diplomacy, esp. accredited to a seat of government in the receiving state; 2. an adroit negotiator; tactful person the approval of an ambassador or a minister by the government of the receiving state 1. the art and practice of conducting international relations; 2. skills and tact in handling affairs giving official authorization to or approval of; sending out a diplomatic envoy with credentials to an official or government of the receiving state the process of determining whether the proposed diplomatic envoy is acceptable to the receiving state