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8 Apr, 7 tweets, 3 min read
So now Turkey is saying the EU's protocol team signed off on the seating arrangements. The question is, which team?

The Commission said their protocol team didn't come because of Covid. That leaves the embassy (EEAS), or the Council.
#Sofagate has turned into a whodunnit with the Turks now claiming the seating arrangement was cleared by an EU protocol team.

The Commission says their team wasn't there. So was it Michel's team that orchestrated the two chairs, or the Turks? Was it intentional, or a mistake?
This all may seem like an inconsequential focus on musical chairs, but it's being seen as an indicator of 4 important things:

🇹🇷 Turkey's treatment of women
😡 Erdogan's antagonism toward EU
🇪🇺 Possible conflict between EU's two presidents
🤷‍♂️ Why there are 2 EU presidents at all
The EU Council's protocol department has hit back at the Turkish foreign minister's suggestion that they saw the chair arrangement and agreed to it.

In a just-released statement, they say a premises visit did take place but the Turks refused to let them see the meeting room.
Statement appears to be trying to de-escalate by saying someone in Turkey could have literally interpreted the (never applied) idea that the Council president is like a head of state and the Commission president is like a prime minister.

(I've never heard of this idea before)
So the ball is now back in Turkey's court.

Turkey implied this morning EU Council team had seen the chairs before the leaders entered. The Council team says there was a visit but they were prevented from seeing the chairs. Implies a set-up by Erdogan.

How can this de-escalate?
President Michel will be doing an interview with Belgian TV explaining his side of the #SofaGate story at 8pm tonight.

The Brussels bubble will be watching intently. This may be a make-or-break moment for him.
ln24.be/node/16649

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More from @DaveKeating

Dave Keating Profile picture
9 Apr
EU member states and the Commission need to take a decision now about whether they’re going to add #SputnikV to the EU joint procurement program. Otherwise some countries look set to follow Hungary and purchase their own.

But there’s a deep division on this among EU countries.
The Commission has gone out of its way to say it’s perfectly fine for Hungary to purchase Sputnik on its own since it isn’t part of EU joint procurement.

But the reality is it’s very complicated for everyone involved, and goes against the spirit of The EU joint strategy.
German MEP @peterliese, health lead for Merkel & VDL’s EPP, said yesterday he thinks the EU EMA is going to approve Sputnik.

If they do, he says, then EU countries should use it without hesitation.
Read 4 tweets
Dave Keating Profile picture
8 Apr
#Sofagate continues to escalate.

The Turkish foreign minister has lashed out at Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi after he earlier tonight lamented how VDL was treated and called Erdogan a “dictator”.
“I felt very sorry for the humiliation that European Commission President von der Leyen had to undergo,” Draghi said during a press conference earlier tonight.
“With these — let’s call them for what they are — dictators, which we however need to cooperate with...one has to be frank in expressing a diversity of views, opinions, behaviors, visions of society,” the Italian prime minister said of the Turkish president.
Read 4 tweets
Dave Keating Profile picture
8 Apr
President Michel speaking to Belgium's @LesNews24 now about #SofaGate.

He starts by expressing regret at what took place - the closest we've yet come to an apology. Image
"I did not stand up because it would have created an even more serious diplomatic incident," says President Michel.

"The images are brutal but do not reflect the content of our meeting," he insists. He notes the meeting was sensitive, he's trying to rescue relations with Turkey Image
President Michel gives same description of the premises inspection given by the Council's protocol team a few hours earlier.

"It was not possible to enter the room in question" and so the Council didn't know about chair situation before he arrived.
Read 5 tweets
Dave Keating Profile picture
8 Apr
MEP Peter Liese, health lead for EU's largest political party EPP, had some interesting remarks today about the latest vaccine developments.

He says the main message from yesterday's #AstraZeneca blood clot news should be this: "It's possible to treat, we have a cure" (🧵1/14 )
Now that they've been identified, the blood clot deaths can be prevented.

It's an immune reaction that can be treated with antibodies, he says. That's why patients need to be informed of symptoms.

"What we're talking about is a serious side effect but it’s very rare." (2/14)
"I personally know a patient [who got the blood clots] who came to hospital last week, and she’s about to leave the hospital tomorrow.

"It’s a really serious issue, it’s life-threatening, but when you have the right treatment you can look at it." (3/14)
Read 14 tweets
Dave Keating Profile picture
7 Apr
BREAKING: An updated assessment by the EU Medicines Agency finds there *is* a possible link between the #AstraZeneca vaccine and "very rare cases of unusual blood clots with low blood platelets."
"Unusual blood clots with low blood platelets should be listed as very rare side effects," the EMA now says.

"So far, most of the cases reported have occurred in women under 60 within 2 weeks of vaccination...specific risk factors have not been confirmed."
"The chance of having this occur is very low, but you should still be aware of symptoms" EMA says.

"The benefits of the vaccine continue to outweigh the risks for people who receive it."
Read 7 tweets
Dave Keating Profile picture
7 Apr
This seems as good a time as any to rekindle the debate over whether 🇪🇺 should reduce its 2⃣presidents to 1⃣.

The Council President position was only created in 2009. It was 1st conceived as a replacement for EC President as the EU's voice on world stage.
politico.eu/article/jean-c…
Big names were in running to be 1st proper "President of the EU", including Tony Blair.

But in 2009 EU PMs decided to immediately dilute the new top jobs by choosing weak first occupants. So the EU's been left with 2 presidents; not the original intention
gulfstreamblues.blogspot.com/2009/11/eu-low…
BTW, it's often claimed in anglophone media that the EU has 5 presidents. It doesn't.

The word 'president' is used in continental Europe for many different types of posts. The EU parliament president is more like the speaker of the house in UK.
gulfstreamblues.blogspot.com/2016/06/no-eu-…
Read 4 tweets

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