POLITICO - News Foreign Affairs - Turkey gaffe sparks fresh clash between old rivals von der Leyen and Charles Michel - April 22, 2026 6:44 pm CET By Ferdinand Knapp

 POLITICO

Turkey gaffe sparks fresh clash between old rivals von der Leyen and Charles Michel

Michel, the former president of the European Council, defended Ankara as a key ally, reviving his long-term feud with the head of the European Commission.

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Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel arrive for a joint press conference following a European Council summit in Brussels on April 18, 2024. | Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images

April 22, 2026 6:44 pm CET

By Ferdinand Knapp

Turkey is once again at the heart of a scuffle between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her longtime nemesis, former European Council President Charles Michel.

Von der Leyen last weekend seemed to suggest Ankara posed a geostrategic threat to the EU while addressing an audience in Germany.

“We must succeed in completing the European continent so that it does not fall under Russian, Turkish or Chinese influence,” she said at an event hosted by German newspaper Die Zeit. “We must think bigger and more geopolitically.”

Von der Leyen’s remarks generated headlines in Turkey, a longtime EU candidate country and key NATO ally. A Commission spokesperson later told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency that the Commission president had meant to recognize the country’s “geopolitical clout, size and ambition.”

That clarification didn’t pass muster with Michel, who on Wednesday took to X to slam von der Leyen for her comments. He described Turkey as “a core #NATO ally, a key migration partner, an energy corridor, a major defense actor on Europe’s flank, and a serious regional power.”

“Europe doesn’t get stronger by applying double standards or simplifying reality,” he added.

The verbal slap renewed the long-term feud between Michel and von der Leyen, a rivalry that was on full display during a 2021 visit the two made to Turkey. While meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, the then-president of the Council took a seat beside his host, relegating the Commission chief to a nearby couch.

The snub, later dubbed “sofagate,” exposed the tensions between the two EU leaders. The relationship between von der Leyen and Michel never recovered from the incident, which the Commission president said had left her feeling “hurt” and “alone, as a woman and as a European.”

Michel has kept a relatively low profile since his term ended in 2024, but resurfaced this week to accuse von der Leyen of having an “authoritarian” style in an interview with the Brussels Times.

In criticizing the Commission president’s comments on Turkey, however, Michel drew a sharp rebuke from Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, who chided the Belgian for defending a country that is occupying territory claimed by an EU member.

“Dear Charles, since you are talking about double standards, let me remind you that Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974, and still occupies European territory,” Christodoulides wrote on X ahead of an informal summit of EU leaders in the Cypriot capital April 23-24.