European women’s organizations have sent a letter to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, requesting his resignation after “Sofagate”.
European President Michel lost his credibility earlier this week during his visit with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Only two chairs were provided for this maintenance and were used by Michel and Erdogan, while Van der Leyen had to sit on a sofa away. Michel has been criticized for sitting in the chair just like that and not realizing that a woman has not been provided with a chair in the company.
According to Fondation Millenia, an international organization committed to equality between men and women, Michel made “three big mistakes” that “hit all women”. With this Fondation Millenia points first and foremost to a mistake in diplomacy: Michel had to leave the Commission president and ask for a second seat.
In addition, they point to a mistake with the European Union: Michel is said to have given “an image of internal conflict and weak thinking” to a “dictator” with this measure. Finally, Fondation refers to a human rights flaw, “women’s rights in particular,” because it is alleged that Michel fell into a “trap” right after Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Agreement on March 20.
“When we think about these three big mistakes, it is self-evident that weak apologies will not solve the political gap that the European Union has left with citizens and the world,” the organization said in its open letter to Michel. It also reported that the media around the world were reporting the incident and laughing at it. Therefore, we ask for your resignation from the presidency of the European Council. “
The problem of the Turks
The first signatories to the open letter include the President of the Belgian Council of French-Speaking Women, Sylvie Lausberg, Member of the Federal Parliament for DéFI, and Sophie Rohoni, and the President of the International Women’s Law Association, Annie Souger.
French Minister of State for European Affairs Clément Bonn described the sofa incident on Sunday as “a humiliation of Turkey” by von der Leyen. “The problem in this issue is not Europe, but Turkey,” he said. It is a Turkish problem that we think happened on purpose. ”Thus, he contradicts the assumption that errors occurred in the European protocol.
