European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for a working dinner on Wednesday night in Ankara, at a sensitive moment for both sides.
At the meeting, held after the NATO summit in Ankara, von der Leyen will have to balance closer ties with Turkey against ongoing rule-of-law concerns and other disputes.
They will be joined by European Council President António Costa, with the dinner expected to carry a degree of tension.
At a public event in April, von der Leyen reportedly placed Turkey — an EU candidate country since 1999 — alongside Russia and China when discussing foreign influence across Europe.
Euronews asked the EU executive whether this remark and other issues would be raised during Wednesday’s meeting.
