Ursula Von der Leyen snubbed in chair gaffe at EU-Erdoğan talks

The president of the European commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was momentarily left without a seat as she met with the European council president, Charles Michel and Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Ankara on Tuesday - triggering an avalanche of criticism.

With only two chairs available, Von der Leyen, the sole attending female leader, sat on the sofa as Erdoğan and Michel sat on the chairs. “Ehm,” she muttered, with a small gesticulation directed at the occupied seats. Michel, who had appeared to make a bee-line for the top spot next to Erdoğan as the party entered, offered little evidence of regret.

A spokesperson for Von der Leyen said: "The important thing is that the president should have been seated in exactly the same manner as the President of the European Council and the Turkish President. But ... she decided to proceed nevertheless prioritising substance over protocol."

The awkward scene was played out ahead of a three-hour meeting with Erdoğan where one of the issues raised by the EU leaders was women’s rights in light of Turkey’s withdrawal from a convention on gender-based violence.

[JM-szlh]

0:15
Ursula:ehm..
Erdogan: two coffee pls!

[giammaishere]

0:06 look him! He already knows he must go faster than Ursala

[albertdesalvo]

Then Erdogan turned to her and said, "two sugars and just a splash of milk, and when you've done that, run the vacuum around, sweetheart."

[alikoc]

0:06 Charles is racing w Ursula for the chair 🤣🤣

[spacecowboy]

How quickly Michel walked past Ursula. How can he have so little style?

[romiboise]

That's like "go back in the kitchen"

[raummachtdifferenz]

usually germans putting towels in advance to get chairs. vdL did a rookie mistake. i blame her parents.

[susa]

This is a demonstration of how much EU respects their own values.

[samibmailful]

She is a first-class hypocrite, and she needs to be treated as so..

[Gabneo]

Ursula : " can I turn on the TV or it bothers you? "

[lucyfrye]

Michel should have given his seat to her and refused the sofa. Just stand next to her. For an hour, if necessary.

[xBBL_Airsoft]

The Belgian once he realised there is only two chairs, you can see he clearly raced the woman for it. 0:06

[calincalin]

Erdoğan was looking at her like ... „Woman, why don’t you go to the kitchen and make us some coffee ! „

[mikelumbreras]

First arrived....first served
This reflect perfectly the Europeen politics. There s no other way if you like to be treated like S...

[rimbaudjr]

You can clearly see Michel making his way to the seat. He’s clearly taken away VdL’s seat. He noticed there were two seats and not three. Was it on purpouse? Was it just to feel important?

[markyw]

Do they take one away when the music stops?

[m_cahit]

as if Charles michel and Erdogan wanted to say bring coffee to ursula von der leyen 😂

[jeanblache]

The story of the chair is secondary. The main problem is that Europe is represented by two apparatchiks who have not been elected by their people.

[fuadkarimli]

Defining moment in Michel's career...

[desertaxe]

0:12
LEYEN: EHM...
GUYS: YES WITH CREAM AND SUGAR PLEASE!