(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, APRIL 13 - A very embarrassing incident.
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen thus qualified Sofagate in her speech today at the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament.
EU sources report this.
The three European institutions should be on an equal footing when it comes to third countries, added vonder Leyen, then identifying a gender dimension in the incident and linking it to Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention.
Von der Leyen then promised himself that what happened on the trip to Ankara will never happen again and that the missions will be prepared jointly.
President Charles Michel, for his part, deeply regretted the Sofagate incident and spoke of offense to the president of the EU Commission Ursulavon der Leyen and to all the women.
The Belgian politician revealed that the Council protocol service did not have access to the meeting room with Erdogan, the one where the chair accident took place, and that was a mistake.
But according to Michel, showing disappointment with Erdogan would have put a damper on the work done with Turkey, while acknowledging that the unity of the EU was affected by the incident.
(HANDLE).