Former head of EU Commission Juncker says, “From a protocol point of view, the president of the Council is No 1, and the president of the Commission is No 2,” referring to the von der Leyen “Sofagate.”
Turkey’s foreign minister also downplayed confusion over the seating arrangements at this week's meeting between top EU officials and the Turkish president.
Top EU officials meet President Erdogan in Ankara with high-level talks held on issues including refugee crisis, trade, visa liberalisation as well as revamp of ties.
Calling for building bridges between Turkey and EU, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the economy is one of the most important areas of cooperation since Turkish exports to the EU total $81.8 billion.
Turkish President Erdogan speaks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council head Charles Michel seeking to better ties.
Ankara and Athens held 60 rounds of talks between 2002 and 2016 that they broke off without making progress in a dispute that has lingered for much of the past century.
UN and EU will be part of talks over divided island of Cyprus in New York, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says, hailing EU's efforts to improve ties with Ankara.
The leaders debated climate change measures for eight long hours, dragging a summit that started on Thursday into Friday morning.
The seven-year budget and recovery package is considered vital for many European countries whose economies have been devastated by the virus.
Germany's Merkel and France's Macron say Europe must reform open-border Schengen area in light of recent terrorist attacks, in an online summit of continent's main leaders.
"So let's meet, let's talk and let's seek a mutually acceptable solution. Let's give diplomacy a chance," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said.
Former British leaders have joined those slamming PM Johnson's government for trying to rewrite the Brexit withdrawal treaty.
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