U.S. consulates in France, including those in Rennes, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Bordeaux, are on a preliminary list for closure.
The U.S. State Department has plans to close several U.S. consulates overseas by this summer, and further closures are said to be in the works, reports The New York Times.
The changes could impact some U.S. travelers and residents abroad, as there would be fewer offices available in various foreign cities to provide consular services. Embassies are the main consular office for the American government in foreign countries, while consulates are smaller offices that offer consular services to American citizens in popular tourism areas or larger cities.
Politico is reporting that several U.S. consulates in France, including those in Rennes, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Bordeaux are on a preliminary list for closure. Dusseldorf, Leipzig, and Hamburg, Germany; Florence, Italy; Ponta Delgada, Portugal; and Belo Horizonte, Brazil, are also on the preliminary list, which could change as there has not yet been an official announcement from the State Department.
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American expatriates living in Strasbourg planned a protest of the potential closure at the consulate for March 7.
If the four consulates on the list obtained by Politico are ultimately closed, the U.S. mission in France would be left with just two consular offices: the Embassy in Paris, and the consulate in Marseilles.
American expatriate Emily De Young told Fodor’s that the possibility of the American consulate in Strasbourg has upset Americans living in France’s Grand Est region—not only because they would lose local consular services, but because the consular officers that had connected with the local American community would likely find themselves out of a job. “The consulate is active in American life here in Strasbourg, holding events for the community,” she said. De Young also noted she would need to go to Paris—a two-hour train ride away—for consular services like passport renewal if the Strasbourg consulate shutters.
The consulate in Strasbourg also has a special function in the city. Strasbourg is home to the Council of Europe, an international organization that supports human rights, democracy, and rule of law on the European continent. Yvonne Gonzalez, the U.S. Consul General for Strasbourg, serves as deputy permanent observer to the Council of Europe, as the United States has participated in the organization as an observer for three decades.
Reducing the number of consulates could also increase workload on remaining consular officials in each country, meaning Americans in need of emergency consular services like passport replacements, legal referrals, or repatriation would have to travel further and face longer waits for services. Politico also reported that the State Department’s consular affairs division—the office that oversees emergency services for U.S. citizens abroad, could also face staffing cuts that could further slow services, even in countries maintaining the current number of embassies and consulates.
Local consular offices are also resources for U.S. intelligence efforts in specific regions. On-the-ground reports from the U.S. consul in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, were used to help formulate a change to the threat levels for the state of Tamaulipas during increasing gun battles in February.
Politico also reported that some U.S. embassies abroad could be closed, but closing an embassy is more complicated than closing a consulate, as embassies are the primary point of contact for both American citizens in a country and for that country’s government. Embassies also typically house federal employees from other departments in addition to State.
Not all countries with which the United States has diplomatic relations have physical embassies or consulates. The Caribbean nations of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and The Grenadines are all served by the U.S. Embassy in Barbados. Bhutan is served by the U.S. Embassy in India.
The State Department has about 80,000 employees worldwide. Roughly 14,000 of those are highly trained diplomats who rotate between posts at US embassies and consulates around the world, while about 50,000 of the department’s employees are foreign nationals supporting US consular offices in their countries of origin. Another 13,000 diplomats work out of the State Department offices in Foggy Bottom in Washington DC.
The United States operates the second largest number of diplomatic missions of any country in the world after China.
