Egemen Bağış: Right time, right man
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 12, 2009 00:00
Egemen Bağış, parliamentarian-turned-chief-EU-negotiator, is someone we know well at the Daily News. And let’s admit it, we like him. He’s the kind of politician journalists take to: affable, gregarious and a good storyteller. He is someone able to rise above partisan politics without betraying partisan loyalty. He also has a sense of humor.
In short, Bağış is a communicator. We can think of no qualification among those of his new job description that is more important. As we have argued in this column before, the sense of crisis in the European Union generally, and within the Turkish relationship specifically, turns on the collapse of "narrative." What is the long-term vision for the European Project? If anyone in Brussels (or Paris or Berlin) knows, this is a well-kept secret. Just where and how does Turkey’s dynamism fit within the motionless stasis that defines the planning of European Commission? We can’t say.
But we can say that only someone with Bağış’ unique skill set can force the articulation of answers to these questions. The trust and the ear of the prime minister, the ability to talk to all sides at all levels, an ear for the political tones of the larger trans-Atlantic relationship are all strengths Bağış possesses. These assets are all the more essential at a time of great change in Washington, with the incoming Obama administration, when repair of the EU-Turkey relationship will be an issue within the larger task for repair of the US-EU relationship.
Of course, we have heard and listened to the criticism that Bağış is more comfortable on Connecticut Avenue than he is on Unter den Linden, that he knows his shortcuts across Central Park far better than his way around the Grand Place. We know there is a great deal of technical material to be mastered at this stage of the negotiation game and this is not akin to the Washington lobbying at which Bağış has been notably successful. And this criticism is fair enough, too.
Yes, he has a steep learning curve ahead of him and the ascent will not be easy. But directly relevant experience is not always the critical criteria for a new job. America has concluded as much with the choice of its new president. In this case we will coin a new phrase, "indirectly relevant experience." We believe this is what Bağış exhibits and more importantly we believe this is what the EU-Turkey relationship demands at this juncture.
We also believe that whatever the good intentions behind the decision in 2005 to vest the negotiator’s job in Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, this move proved a mistake. Understandably, Babacan has been faced with countless distractions. But his neglect of negotiations has contributed to the sad state of today’s relationship.
Now is the right time to correct this. And Egemen Bağış is the right man to do it.
But we can say that only someone with Bağış’ unique skill set can force the articulation of answers to these questions. The trust and the ear of the prime minister, the ability to talk to all sides at all levels, an ear for the political tones of the larger trans-Atlantic relationship are all strengths Bağış possesses. These assets are all the more essential at a time of great change in Washington, with the incoming Obama administration, when repair of the EU-Turkey relationship will be an issue within the larger task for repair of the US-EU relationship.
Of course, we have heard and listened to the criticism that Bağış is more comfortable on Connecticut Avenue than he is on Unter den Linden, that he knows his shortcuts across Central Park far better than his way around the Grand Place. We know there is a great deal of technical material to be mastered at this stage of the negotiation game and this is not akin to the Washington lobbying at which Bağış has been notably successful. And this criticism is fair enough, too.
Yes, he has a steep learning curve ahead of him and the ascent will not be easy. But directly relevant experience is not always the critical criteria for a new job. America has concluded as much with the choice of its new president. In this case we will coin a new phrase, "indirectly relevant experience." We believe this is what Bağış exhibits and more importantly we believe this is what the EU-Turkey relationship demands at this juncture.
We also believe that whatever the good intentions behind the decision in 2005 to vest the negotiator’s job in Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, this move proved a mistake. Understandably, Babacan has been faced with countless distractions. But his neglect of negotiations has contributed to the sad state of today’s relationship.
Now is the right time to correct this. And Egemen Bağış is the right man to do it.