NYT: US State Department closes consulates in Europe

The US State Department has developed a plan to close several United States consulates and dismiss foreign employees at its diplomatic missions around the world, Reuters and The New York Times (NYT) reported, citing US officials.

According to the NYT, we are talking about a "dozen" consulates, mainly in Western Europe. In particular, consulates in Leipzig, Hamburg and Dusseldorf in Germany, Bordeaux and Strasbourg in France, as well as Florence in Italy, three officials told Reuters.

The NYT notes that such actions could be a blow to the efforts of the US government to establish partnerships and intelligence gathering against the backdrop of how China has overtaken the United States in the number of diplomatic missions around the world.

The State Department is also considering the possibility of combining several of its expert bureaus in Washington, the sources of the publications noted.

According to the State Department, the United States has more than 270 diplomatic missions abroad, the total number of personnel is about 70 thousand people. About 45 thousand are directly in diplomatic missions, 13 thousand are employees of the diplomatic service, and 11 thousand are civil servants.

Earlier, Politico, citing sources and confidential documents, reported on the plans of the administration of US President Donald Trump to radically reform the State Department by reducing the diplomatic corps, embassies and powers of the department.

According to the publication, the updated State Department will focus on concluding international business agreements, ensuring the country's security and attracting foreign investment to the United States.

After the inauguration on January 20, Trump froze funding for the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that some of the functions of the agency will remain, but Reuters reported on the plans of the US administration to reduce the staff from 10 thousand to 294 people.

The US government spending reduction program is associated with Elon Musk, who headed the Department of Public Administration Efficiency (DOGE). According to official data, by the end of February, this department was able to reduce budget expenditures by $ 65 billion, and thousands of civil servants were also cut.