European Council chief Charles Michel is taking steps to ban Ursula von der Leyen from talks to decide whether to retain her role as president of the European Commission.
The two have been bitter rivals since ‘sofagate’, in which von der Leyen was left without a chair at a meeting between Turkey and the European Union in 2021 to discuss women’s rights. Instead, she had to sit on a nearby couch.
Now Michel has proposed excluding von der Leyen from a meeting between EU leaders and heads of member states next week, in which they will discuss who should occupy the top positions at the head of the EU after the elections.
The European Council president said von der Leyen should be banned from attending the talks because she is hoping for a second term, the Telegraph reports.
While the commission president is often included in council talks, von der Leyen’s competition for a second term in office makes the situation unprecedented, as no other sitting commission president has attempted this. in the past.
European Council chief Charles Michel (pictured) is taking steps to ban Ursula von der Leyen from talks to decide whether she retains her role as president of the European Commission.
Now Michel has proposed excluding von der Leyen (pictured) from a meeting between EU leaders and heads of member states next week, where they will discuss who should take the top jobs at the head of the EU after the elections last week.
Ursula von der Leyen was left irritated after being sidelined during EU-Turkey talks in Ankara in 2021 after her two male counterparts took the only available seats.
But Michel is facing backlash for wanting to exclude von der Leyen.
“If he wants to remove her from the room, he should remove himself too,” said one EU diplomat. political. Another source added: “There is some irritation.”
The latest twist in their rivalry comes after the ‘sofagate’ scandal of April 2021, when Turkish President Erdogan and Michel occupied the two available chairs, while von der Leyen stood awkwardly, before taking I sit on a nearby sofa.
Turkey strongly rejected accusations that it snubbed von der Leyen because of her gender, while Michel blamed Turkey, even though he also did not appear to offer his colleague his seat.
The incident took place in Ankara on April 6, 2021, when von der Leyen met Erdogan, along with her European colleague Michel.
The video showed how von der Leyen stood to the side and uttered an audible “ahem” as Michel and Erdogan took the only two available seats, without offering her her chair even after she protested.
Instead, she was left sitting on a nearby couch, away from the two men, as they held lengthy conversations about Turkey’s relations with the EU, including Erdogan’s decision to withdraw from a treaty protecting women’s rights.
The images generated intense criticism on social media and accusations of gender discrimination with the hashtag ‘sofagate’.
It was quickly pointed out that at previous meetings in Turkey, when both EU representatives were men, both were offered seats.
Ankara insisted that the EU’s own protocol requests were implemented during the meeting at the Turkish presidential palace.
The two have been bitter rivals since Sofagate, in which von der Leyen was left without a chair at a meeting between Turkey and the European Union to discuss women’s rights. Instead she had to sit on a couch.
But Michel stated that the embarrassment was the result of the Turkish services’ “strict interpretation” of the protocol rules, and regretted “the differential, even diminished, treatment of the president of the European Commission.”
He said photographs of the meeting gave the impression that he was “indifferent” to the situation.
“Nothing could be further from the truth, or from my deepest feelings, or even from the principles of respect that I hold so dear,” he said.
“At that time, although we realized the unfortunate nature of the situation, we decided not to make matters worse by creating a scene.”
Michel remained seated in the chair next to Erdogan for the entire two-and-a-half hour meeting, while von der Leyen sat on the couch.
Von der Leyen’s spokesman later said that Turkey had violated protocol by not offering her a chair, as it had done with other male commission chairs in the past, but that she decided to “prioritize substance over protocol” by staying.
But, the spokesperson added, “let me emphasize that the president expects that the institution she represents will be treated with the required protocol and has therefore asked her team to make all appropriate contacts to ensure that such an incident does not occur.” occur in the future.”
Von der Leyen later said in a speech that “it happened because I am a woman.”
Diplomatic protocol dictates that the president of the EU Commission and the president of the Council, who have the same rank, must hold positions equally.
