The fact has led to an exchange of accusations between Brussels and Ankara. The European Parliament called for a debate in the face of growing irritation.
A bitter controversy, dubbed “SofaGate”, shook the European Union (EU) following the outburst of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a meeting with the Turkish president in Ankara.
In the video footage, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan can be seen welcoming Von der Leyen, the EU’s chief executive, and Charles Michel, president of the European Council, a body representing the country’s governments. members.
However, Erdogan and Michel then occupied their seats in front of their respective flags, while Von der Leyen was left without a reserved seat or place to sit.
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In the recording it can be clearly heard that Von der Leyen merely highlighted the unusual situation with his simple stupor, while Erdogan and Michel comfortably occupied the main chairs and left her standing in the room until they placed her in a sofa, in front of the Turkish chancellor.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen did not have a reserved seat at the meeting and was later placed on a sofa. Photo: AFP
The images sparked immediate controversy in Brussels, although the European Commission noted that Von der Leyen preferred to “prioritize the substance” of the visit over the protocol stumble.
Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said on Wednesday that Von der Leyen “must have been seated in exactly the same way as the president of the European Council and the Turkish president”.
The decision to prioritize audience content with Erdogan, Mamer said, “does not mean that (Von der Leyen) did not attach importance to the episode.”
That is why the German official has already instructed her team to initiate “appropriate contacts to ensure that an incident like this does not happen in the future,” he added.
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The confusing episode came to be called “SofaGate” and provoked angry reactions in Brussels, where she was interpreted as a disrespect to a senior EU official and the only woman in the meeting.
the questions
At the daily press conference, Mamer was questioned insistently on whether the European Union’s own structure places Michel hierarchically above Von der Leyen.
The spokesman has insisted that the two officials have the same protocol rank. The European Council considers instead that Michel has preference in international protocol.
But beyond the controversy over each other’s protocol rank, the episode opened the door to questions about sexism in the EU and even the relationship between Brussels and Ankara.
Last week, just before that visit, Von der Leyen had publicly criticized Turkey for withdrawing a treaty for the prevention of violence against women and children.
“First they withdraw from the Istanbul Convention and now leave the president of the European Commission without a seat on an official visit. Shameful,” wrote the Spanish Iratxe García Pérez, head of the Social Democratic bloc in the European Parliament.
In turn, German MEP Sergey Lagodinsky wrote that Von der Leyen’s only reaction (“ejemmm”) “is the new term for ‘this is not how the EU-Turkey relationship should be'”.
Meanwhile, Dutch MEP Sophie in’t Veld pointed out her criticism of Michel and wondered why the president of the European Council remained “silent” even when he perceived that his colleague was leaving. run out of seats.
After a day of criticism on social media and questions from journalists, Michel responded with a post on his Facebook page, assuring that he was not “unaware” of the situation, despite the impression the images give.
The former Belgian prime minister has attributed the “unfortunate” scene to a “protocol error” on the part of the Turkish side and assured that both he and Von der Leyen “chose not to make it worse by making a public incident”.
Debate
The Turkish government on Thursday defended itself against the accusations against it for what it has considered a breach of protocol during the visit to Ankara and blamed it for what happened in the EU.
“The EU’s requests were respected. This means that the seating arrangement was done following their requests,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a news conference.
“The accusations against Turkey are unfair. Turkey is a deeply rooted state and it is not the first time we have received foreign dignitaries,” he added.
For their part, the main political groups in the European Parliament on Thursday lamented the so-called “SofaGate” for the image of disunity projected by the top leaders of the European Union during their recent visit to Turkey, and called for a hearing to discuss the incident.
MEP Manfred Weber, leader of the majority Conservative bloc in Parliament, called for a meeting of the European Parliament with the two leaders, to consider that the visit “translated into a symbol of disunity”.
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This visit “must have been a message of firmness and unity of Europeans in relation to Turkey,” commented Weber, who added that “we expect more from European foreign policy.”
Similarly, Spanish MEP Iratxe García, head of the Socialist and Democrat parliamentary bloc, called on Michel and Von der Leyen to be summoned to a parliamentary session on Thursday to “clarify the facts and (discuss) how to respect the European institutions “.
Michel and Von der Leyen’s visit to Ankara was aimed at opening a door for improved EU-Turkey relations, which were violently shaken by continued crises in 2020.