The Inspection Did Not Go Well for the Senior Consular Representative

An April 2023 report by the U.S. State Department’s Office of Inspector General said the job of Senior Consular Representative at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels is “a misuse of resources.”

The OIG report said foreign service officers at the EU mission were working as many as 30 hours of overtime a week to keep up with a workload that has increased significantly since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. That led the mission to ask permission to hire 12 more people – six U.S. citizens and six from Belgium – to keep up with the “excessive” workload.

The Senior Consular Representative, however, “did not have the responsibilities of a full-time senior position,” the report said.

The position did not support any visitors during 2022, produced minimal reporting, and had limited communication with EU contacts, responsibilities that are typical of other section officers. Furthermore, this senior position had no supervisory or program management responsibilities.

The Senior Consular Representative worked with the EU on consular issues and was a member of the Senior Foreign Service, making him among the most experienced diplomats working for the State Department. The report noted it costs $700,000 a year to maintain someone in the job.

The Inspector General recommended that the mission and the Bureau of Consular Affairs “review the need” for the position “and make adjustments as necessary.”

The State Department said it would do that. It told the OIG that the Senior Consular Representative would retire and the job would be abolished, with his duties split among others.

The U.S. Mission to the European Union is one of three State Department missions in Brussels, each of which is led by its own ambassador. The other two are the U.S. Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the U.S. Embassy for Belgium.

The Senior Consular Representative began working harder even before the inspection was over, the report said:

During the inspection, the Senior Consular Representative began to work two mornings per week in Embassy Brussels’ Consular Section adjudicating visa applications.