The Commissioner-designate for the post as EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, indicated during her hearing last week at the European Parliament that she might break with her predecessor’s way of handling the EU’s external service and its diplomacy.
The round of hearings started on 4 November and ended on 12 November. Before the hearings, all Commissioners-designate replied to written questions prepared by the different parliamentary committees. The full Commission needs to be elected by a simple majority of the votes cast in plenary. The vote is currently scheduled to take place on 27 November in Strasbourg.
In her written reply, Kallas, a former member of the European Parliament, had no difficulty to convince the Parliament that she will cooperate with the Parliament and that she is fit for her new task, As an Estonian, she has personally experienced life without the EU and without freedom under Soviet rule. She is determined to defend the European values and interests that underpin EU’s foreign policy.
Furthermore, as a former Prime Minister she had plenty of opportunities to engage with international partners. “Over the past three years, I have been at the heart of high-level multilateral diplomacy, participating in negotiations within NATO and the EU, and representing Estonia on the global stage in high-level summits and meetings.”
Among others, she pushed for an increase in Estonia’s defense spending above 3% of GDP only a year after Russia’s invasion. She also ensured that Estonia became proportionally one of Ukraine’s biggest donors. “I wanted Estonia to lead by example. This is also why I consistently advocated for stronger EU engagement.”
Challenges and priorities
Her short-term priority will be to address the pressing global concerns: Russia’s war against Ukraine and strengthening the EU’s security and defence. That will be one of her most challenging tasks after the re-election of Donald Trump as US President and his selection of new ministers and key advisors that may decide to cut military aid to Ukraine and push for a political solution on Kremlin’s conditions.
At the hearing, Kallas said that she is a strong believer in the multilateral rule-based international order. “We’ll have to listen to our international partners, especially our biggest ally (the US).” The EU, once it reaches a common position and the Member States are acting together, has much leverage, also on the US. As other EU diplomats, she referred to common EU – US security interests and trade relations.
But she admitted that the coming five years will not be easy for the EU, confronting Russia and countries that support it, among them China, Iran and North Korea. The challenges the EU is facing will be discussed at the foreign affairs council meeting on Monday, probably the last one of the current High Representative, Josep Borrell, who started his mandate when the world looked differently.
“How we respond to Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine tells the world who we are and the values we stand for,” Kallas wrote and proposed to make better use of EU’s foreign policy tools to maximise the EU’s international leverage. She was frank about China’s role and said at the hearing that Russia would hardly have been able to pursue its war against Ukraine without China’s tacit support.
A high-ranking EU official told journalists on Friday that the European External Action Service (EEAS) has received information about a factory in China which is producing drones for Russia. The information has not yet been independently confirmed and the EEAS does not know if Beijing is aware about it. If the information is confirmed, it will have consequences for EU’s relations with China, the official said.
“How we respond to Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine tells the world who we are and the values we stand for,” Kallas wrote. In the first 100 days of her mandate, she will propose a White Paper on the future of European Defence.
The paper will identify the investment needed and present ideas for a longer-term approach for building a European Defence Union. She confirmed that the EU currently suffers from significant under investment despite a pledge given in 2022 to increase defence spending to 2 % of GDP. “When you need more weapons, then it’s too late to invest in them,” she said.
Position on the Middle East
The EU Member States are increasingly worried about the situation in the Middle East. Josep Borrell, the current High Representative, has proposed a suspension of the political dialogue with Israel. The proposal sends a political signal but is mainly symbolic as both sides have agreed to convene the EU-Israel Association Council meeting, the forum for political dialogue and cooperation.
At the hearing, Kallas said that there is EU unity about the common position on the Middle East: ceasefire, release of hostages, humanitarian aid, respect of international humanitarian law, and the two-state solution. The EU is raising the issues with the Israeli government but until now without much success. Kallas, from a country where the Holocaust took place and which suffered both Nazi-German and Soviet occupation, might succeed where Borrell failed.
Kallas also formulated concrete long-term goals. By the end of her mandate, she wants the EU to have strengthened long-term and mutually beneficial partnerships across the globe – from Latin America and the Caribbean to the Indo-Pacific, including with a new Strategic EU-India Agenda, and from Central Asia to Africa. A short-term priority is preparation for the EU-African Union Summit in 2025.
She intends to work closely with other Commissioners with related tasks (such as the Commissioners for the Mediterranean, International Partnerships, Defence and Space, and Enlargement). In particular she wants to prioritise relations with the candidate countries and help them to address bilateral issues in the enlargement process. The Pristina-Belgrade dialogue, for example, is not moving forward.
Kaja Kallas is no doubt different from Josep Borrell but it remains to be seen if she will break with his legacy at the EEAS. At the hearing, she said that there is room for improvement of EEAS’s efficiency. In her replies, she hinted that there will be changes in EU’s diplomacy. Borrell’s closest political advisor at the EEAS will remain there some months to facilitate a smooth transition.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
