European commission president says she was left feeling ‘hurt and alone’ after incident at summit in Turkey
Ursula von der Leyen, the first female president of the European commission, has said she felt hurt and alone after being left by two male leaders without a chair at a summit in Turkey, describing it as evidence of the unequal treatment of the sexes.
In one of the most impassioned speeches of her tenure – made in the presence of Charles Michel, the president of the European council, who was one of the two men at the talks – Von der Leyen said she had been left standing because she was a woman.
