Upon his arrival in Brussels, Ugandan Minister Jeje Odongo walked straight to Charles Michel and Emmanuel Macron to shake their hands, superbly ignoring the President of the European Commission. As during the Sofagate affair, the Belgian President of the European Council, who did not react, is once again targeted by criticism.
“The image made the rounds of news sites”, observes the Belgian magazine Mosquito. Last week the European Union – African Union summit took place in Brussels and on Thursday 17, “at the opening of this two-day meeting which was to deal in particular with issues of gender equality and women’s rights, as pointed out The standard, African delegations were greeted by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, and French President Emmanuel Macron,” whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
“But when it came time to welcome Ugandan Foreign Minister Jeje Odongo, things went wrong,” continues the Dutch-language newspaper:
In the images, we see Odongo entering the podium, visibly ignoring Von der Leyen and heading towards Michel and Macron, whom he then greets at length by shaking their hands.
Since then, this “affront to Ursula von der Leyen […] never ceases to ignite the web”, reports The evening, who notes that, “even more than Ugandan Foreign Minister Jeje Odongo, who ostensibly snubbed the President of the Commission, it is the President of the Council, Charles Michel, who suffers popular condemnation for not having reacted. A bad buzz that our compatriot would gladly have done without, less than a year after the
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