“Sillóngate”: the snub of the protocol which scandalizes Europe

ROMA – “Arm yourself.” Thus was baptized in social networks the scandalous protocol blunder of which the President of the European Commission, the German Ursula Von der Leyen, was a victim, who in an episode bordering on machismo and lack of respectInstead of being invited to sit in an honor chair, like the two male colleagues present with a similar protocol hierarchy, she was forced to do so on a side sofa.

The event, which caused a stir in the world today, took place on Tuesday in Ankara, in the sumptuous presidential palace of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government recently withdrew the country from an iconic international treaty signed in 2011 that attempts to tackle violence against women, which has caused major protests.

Von der Leyen was the victim of the Turkish host’s rude gesture after arriving at the presidential palace and being received at the door by Erdogan, during a visit to revive the relationship between the European Union (EU) and Turkey , which he attended together with the President of the European Council, the former Belgian President, Charles Michel.

As we can see in a more than eloquent video, when the three arrived in the room where the meeting was to take place, Von der Leyen ate breakfast with protocol that did not provide him with an honorary chair, but only for his male colleagues.

After the first photos of the three leaders standing, Erdogan is seen in the video inviting Michel to sit in one of the two chairs and sit in the other. Von der Leyen remains standing, upset and uncomfortable, as evidenced by the “ehm” who emits. Michel is also stunned, but neither reacts nor flinches.

Second act, Von der Leyen is invited to sit on a side sofa, about three meters from the two men, against the Turkish chancellor, Melvut Cavusoglu, whose rank in the protocol is lower than that of the president of the European executive. “His sitting posture, beyond impeccable elegance, also indicates discomfort,” said the Italian newspaper The Republic, which like the rest of the world echoed the gaff.

Although at a technical level, one could say that Erdogan wanted to give Michel the rank of head of government because he is the one who directs the sessions of the European Council, that is to say the meetings at the top of the heads. of state and government of the EU. , under no circumstances would the President of the Commission – the EU’s highest executive body – be considered at a lower level. Otherwise the opposite. So much that this rigid application of the Turkish protocol was interpreted as a subliminal political message from Erdogan.

“Von der Leyen was clearly surprised, it shows in the video, but preferred to prioritize the substantive issues, rather than the protocol,” commented European Commission spokesperson Eric Mamer, who nevertheless clarified that the Commission “expects to be treated according to the appropriate protocol” and that it would contact “the parties involved so that this situation does not recur in the future”.

The European People’s Party, von der Leyen’s political family, has made no secret of its outrage. “Someone should be ashamed of the lack of suitable space for Ursula von der Leyen in Erdogan Palace. The EU has signaled its openness to dialogue, but we are firm in our values: women deserve the same recognition as their male colleagues», He indicated.

The head of the delegation of the Italian Democratic Party (PD), Brando Benifei, went further. “President Von der Leyen, left without a chair by Erdogan, should have left, thus avenging Turkish women, whose rights are now in the crosshairs“, He indicated, in a press release in which he also defined” shameful “the attitude of Charles Michel,” who did not seem to lift a finger “.

Amidst the astonishment at the incredible episode, a European Parliament source consulted by THE NATION He stressed that “when there were two men – the former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the head of the European Council and the Luxembourgish Jean-Claude Juncker of the Commission, something like that never happened”. And he attached an old photo of Erdogan with both of them, in three equal chairs, at a meeting that took place at the 2016 G20 summit in China.