Turkey’s new EU minister’s first task is damage control on corruption claims
Semantics are crucial in the functioning of the European Union. I learned this in one of the EU summits in the mid-1990s, which were a source of tension between Greece and Turkey at the time. On every occasion, the final statements in the summits were subject to intense negotiations between Greece and the friends of Turkey, trying to curb the strong wording that the Greeks wanted to use against Ankara. In one case, simply adding a comma to a sentence in English made such a change that it became acceptable to both the Greeks and the other side.
It was during EU summits that I learned what "constructive ambiguity" means. There have been countless times where I witnessed this "constructive ambiguity" at work during long hours of negotiations within the EU on Turkey. I can argue confidently that compared to other international organizations, you can't find better mediation anywhere else.
In that respect, I was quite surprised to hear Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk named as the new European Council president. As expected, some critics have pointed to Tuskâs halting English as a disadvantage when it comes to making deals among the blocâs 28 heads of state and government. He also doesnât speak French, the EUâs other main working language.
Do you remember how Turkeyâs current president Recep Tayyip ErdoÄan, during the election campaign, tried to criticize his rival Ekmeleddin Ä°hsanoÄlu over the fact that the latter is a polyglot? âWe are not electing a translator,â said ErdoÄan, who does not speak a foreign language.
Indeed, the EU was not looking for a translator either. But the job Mr. Tusk was named for requires mediation skills, so communicating with the sides that you are trying to reconcile in a common language...
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