Joint Declaration: “Merit and the enhancement of human capital of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Minister for Public Administration and the representative trade unions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI),

recognising the central role of personnel in ensuring the quality of administrative action and the importance of merit, acknowledge that:

• Staff have demonstrated dedication and a strong sense of service, particularly during a period marked by a partial freeze on turnover and public finance constraints, in a context characterised by profound changes, increasing professional demands, the expansion of Italy's international presence and growing service requirements. In this context, the qualified and responsible contribution of all categories of personnel, both in Rome and across the overseas network, has been decisive in achieving the Ministry's institutional objectives.
• The Administration is committed to implementing a long-awaited recruitment plan, introducing new professional skills that will ensure a significant generational renewal.
• To ensure the efficient and effective functioning of the Administration, it is necessary to provide all current personnel, as well as those who will serve in the coming decades, with legitimate prospects for professional growth and development, including through increasingly specialised training programmes, making merit a consistent guiding principle both in Italy and abroad.

In this perspective, the Parties agree on the following principles to guide administrative action:

• Enhancing merit across all categories of personnel, taking into account their respective roles and professionally updated profiles and recognising skills, results and the assumption of responsibilities through existing and future incentive mechanisms.
• Ensuring opportunities, regularity and continuity in professional development for all personnel, through procedures such as economic and legal advancements, as well as orderly career progression for the most deserving.
• Strengthening, within budgetary constraints, the resources allocated to employees, optimising the use of supplementary remuneration funds to reward those who contribute most, both qualitatively and quantitatively, to the effective functioning of the Ministry. Ensuring adequate resources for the recruitment of the most qualified contract staff serving at overseas posts. Guaranteeing, within the limits of public finance, adequate staffing levels to meet service requirements, compatible with expectations for professional growth and development.
• Promoting a culture of evaluation as a tool for fairness, motivation, and development, benefiting all personnel and supporting the efficient functioning of offices, particularly abroad. This objective can be achieved through enhanced dialogue and regular meetings between evaluators and those being evaluated, and in the longer term, through the updating of performance measurement and evaluation systems.
• Supporting the development of personnel skills and abilities, guiding staff in areas of improvement and growth through training programmes aimed at both technical-professional and relational-behavioural competencies, to ensure the achievement of individual and organisational objectives. Training shall form an integral part of individual and organisational performance evaluation processes. It should be delivered primarily by management, in accordance with current regulations, as an expression of leadership capacity.
• Increasing staff deployment in the overseas network according to service requirements and guided by shared meritocratic principles. Assignment and retention of permanent staff at posts shall follow rigorous principles derived from the specific functions performed, taking into account shared guiding criteria - to be further discussed with the trade unions - including experience, skills, and, within respective roles, results achieved based on an updated evaluation system. This ensures that the most professionally prepared and motivated personnel are deployed to posts with greater operational complexity.
• Promoting organisational well-being through management action that fosters a fair, motivating and inclusive working environment, where each individual can realise their potential while maintaining a balance between work and private life, and identifying with the values of public service.
• Valuing dialogue with social partners as a lever for participation in managing change processes.

This Declaration represents a shared commitment to placing merit and the enhancement of human capital at the centre of the Ministry's action, for the benefit of staff and, in turn, of the services provided to Italian nationals and enterprises, supporting the diplomacy of Italy's growth.

The Parties undertake, through the establishment of a Joint Committee for Training, Growth and Enhancement of MAECI Personnel, to monitor the effectiveness of these guidelines and propose updates, also in light of legislative, contractual, regulatory and policy developments. This body, which will complement the activities of the MAECI Committee for Personnel Training and Growth established under the Joint Declaration of 16 December 2024, may also examine proposals and projects submitted by other bodies established under corresponding sectoral agreements (e.g., the Joint Body for Innovation and the Joint Committee).

Rome, 16 December 2025