EU top diplomat and strong pro-Ukraine voice Kaja Kallas is criticized for being too “undiplomatic.”
According to Politico Europe, some in the EU believe that Kallas is still behaving like the Prime Minister of Estonia and is being too harsh toward Russia and POTUS Donald Trump.
“Kaja Kallas’ troubles started on her first day,” Politico Europe writes. “The EU’s top diplomat was on a trip to Kyiv when she tweeted: “[T]he European Union wants Ukraine to win this war” against Russia. Some EU officials said they felt uneasy that the head of the European External Action Service, less than a day into her job, felt at liberty to go beyond what they considered to be settled language more than two years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
The crux of the problem, Politico Europe explains, quoting 10 EU diplomats who were granted to speak anonymously, is that Kallas is too hawkish on Russia and wants the EU to step up. Meanwhile, countries like Spain and Italy do not feel that the aggressor is posing an imminent danger to the bloc.
“If you listen to her, it seems we are at war with Russia, which is not the EU line,” one EU official complained.
There was also reportedly a great deal of dissatisfaction with Kallas’ decision to request that the EU member states step in to rapidly compensate for a potential US shortfall, asking, among other things, that the bloc’s 27 member countries to find at least 1.5 million rounds of artillery ammunition.
“The proposal landed on a Sunday evening, without warning, ahead of a foreign affairs gathering set to take place in the days ahead, and it ruffled feathers. Even more damning to some recipients was the way Kallas had structured her proposal: It required each country to make a contribution proportional to the size of their economies,” Politico Europe writes.
Another official disagreed with Kallas’s criticism of Trump and her tweet “the free world needs a new leader” after the infamous spat between Trump, Vice President J.D Vance and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Oval Office.
“Most countries don’t want to inflame things with the United States,” said a sixth diplomat. “Saying the free world needs a new leader just isn’t what most leaders wanted to put out there.”
The publication also quotes those who agree with Kallas’ approach of real action as opposed to verbose pledges.
“They hired a head of state for a reason, not to moderate quietly and find the lowest common denominator but to push things forward,” the official said. “Many people argue we are in 1938 or 1939. It’s not the time to hide behind processes. European leaders keep calling for more Ukraine aid, ok cool, time for deeds not just words.”
