AGRÉMENT (agrétation, gradimento). — A term indicating, also in ecclesiastical diplomacy, the approval given by a government for the dispatch to it of a diplomatic agent. Since no State is obliged to maintain diplomatic relations with other States, still less can any State be obliged to receive, in the capacity of diplomatic agent, a person unacceptable to II. The sending State therefore, before proceeding to appoint a diplomatic agent, takes care (demande d'agrétation) to ascertain that the person it intends to send will be acceptable to the receiving State. This practice, which is generally observed as a norm of international courtesy, is also sanctioned by Art. 8, 1º of the Inter-American Convention of Havana on diplomatic agents. The refusal of a. is not very rare (v. K. Strupp, Wörterbuch, I, 244; F. H. Geffcken, in Handbuch des Völkerrechts by von Holtzendorff, III, p. 632 ff). The practice is generally followed only for heads of mission and, in the case of an ordinary mission, is not followed for chargés d'affaires.
In the ecclesiastical sphere, the Holy See, and through it the Cardinal Secretary of State, requests from governments the a. for a new apostolic nuncio. Conversely, the government of a given State requests from the Holy See the a. for a new ambassador or minister whom it intends to accredit to the Supreme Pontiff. The Holy See
may request the a. by two different means: through the apostolic nunciature, entrusting the request either to the apostolic nuncio who, although recalled, is still at his post, or, if the nuncio has already departed, to the chargé d'affaires ad interim; or through the good offices of the diplomatic representative at the Holy See of the government to which the new nuncio is destined. Governments proceed in an analogous manner when dealing with the Holy See concerning the presentation of a new diplomat. If diplomatic relations did not yet exist between the Holy See and that particular government, the request for a. would take place directly between the Secretariat of State of His Holiness and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of that nation. Ordinarily, the a. is not refused unless very serious reasons intervene; the government consulted, however, is not strictly obliged to disclose them.