© Associated Press
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European Council President Charles Michel said he was not sleeping well after the awkward situation in which he was placed during the Ankara meeting. Then it turned out that Michel was provided with an armchair next to the host, and the place of Ursula von der Leyen, the first woman president of the European Commission, was on the side, on a sofa.
“I can’t hide that I haven’t slept well at night since then, because these scenes keep popping into my mind,” Michelle said in an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt, adding that if he could turn back time, he would fix things. , quoted by BTA.
Cameras captured Von der Layen’s surprise, which made a hand gesture, unable to believe that Michelle was sitting in the only chair next to Turkish President Recep Tayyip.
In the interview for “Handelsblatt”, the Belgian expressed regret for his behavior, DPA notes. “I was afraid that if I reacted in any way, it would cause a much more serious incident,” he said. “If it were possible, I would go back and fix what happened.”
In the interview, Michelle predicted that the EU would have the status of a major producer of vaccines. He said the union could become one of the world’s largest producers of such preparations, and that if production is accelerated, “it could probably become the world’s largest producer.”
Asked to compare the EU’s performance in the pandemic to the US response, which many say is effective in immunizing against covid, Michel said “all elements” of the fight against coronavirus must be taken into account. He pointed out that Europe is doing more to offset the shock of the crisis by providing financial support to businesses and people.
The European Union’s response to the recovery from the KOVID-19 pandemic is stable and is not inferior to the US $ 1.9 trillion recovery plan, Michel told the French newspaper Eco, quoted by Reuters.
Last summer, EU member states agreed on a € 750 billion reimbursement fund, but as governments still present detailed plans for how the money will be spent, frustration is growing in some capitals over the slow pace of disbursement. Some leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, have questioned whether new stimuli are needed after the continent was hit by a second and now a third wave of contagion, which has led to new closures.
“I know very well that some assess (the fund) as insufficient, comparing it to the US recovery plan. I do not share that view,” Michelle said.
He said individual member states have been making extraordinary costs since the health crisis began, and European social benefits are much more generous than those in the United States. “They have allowed us to better absorb the shock and will also contribute to recovery,” he said. “Taken together, I am convinced that all these elements make the European plan very stable.”
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