FRENCH diplomats went on strike today against plans to merge the diplomatic corps with the main civil service.

They staged a protest outside the Foreign Ministry at the Quai d’Orsay in Paris.

President Emmanuel Macron decreed in April that career diplomats would become ordinary civil servants, in a reform he says will modernise the profession and increase diversity.

Diplomats will be transferrable to other branches of public service and compete with non-diplomats for postings under the changes, which are due to come into effect in January.

“We risk the disappearance of our professional diplomacy,” an article signed by 500 diplomats published in Le Monde newspaper argued last week.

They received backing from former prime minister and foreign minister Dominique de Villepin, famed for his denunciation of the US-British invasion of Iraq in a fiery UN speech in 2003.

The strike was joined by diplomats from Washington to Tokyo, including some ambassadors.

“I will be on strike to protest against the continued reduction of our means of diplomacy,” ambassador to Kuwait Claire Le Flecher tweeted.