Kaja Kallas, a liberal from Eastern Europe to replace Borrell

June 27 () –

The liberal Kaja Kallas has been chosen as the future High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, a position focused on trying to unite the diplomatic and security positions of the Twenty-Seven and which until now had been held by the socialist Josep Borrell.

The tenth legislature of the European Union takes its first steps after the elections on Sunday, June 9, and one of the main issues to be discussed was the distribution of ‘top jobs’, the main portfolios of the community Executive, which will once again be led by the German conservative Ursula von der Leyen.

Kallas became Estonia’s prime minister in 2021 after the collapse of Juri Ratas’ government. She won the parliamentary elections last year, meaning she will leave office much earlier than expected to return to Brussels, where she was a MEP from 2014 to 2018.

The Estonian leader is firmly following the path forged by her father two decades ago. Siim Kallas also served briefly as Prime Minister (January 2002 to April 2003) and then served in Brussels as Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Transport and Administrative Affairs.

Before this, Siim Kallas had time to leave the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and, in 1994, found his own formation, the Estonian Reform Party, with a liberal tendency and which has since practically dominated the Government in the Baltic country. .

Kaja Kallas also took the reins of the party, which in Brussels is part of the Renew parliamentary group. In fact, this is the first time that another European family other than the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) controls the so-called Foreign Affairs portfolio.

Kallas’ Estonian Reform Party came third in the last European elections with almost 18 percent of the vote and only one MEP. The conservative Isamaa was the big winner of that day (21.5% and two seats) alongside the socialists (19.3% and two seats).

With his appointment as head of European diplomacy, the European Union has made a gesture towards the liberal family of Parliament, which with the exception of Charles Michel as President of the Council had not held a ‘top job’ for two decades.

It is also the third time that a representative from Eastern Europe has held one of the top posts, after the Poles Donald Tusk (President of the Council until 2019) and Jerzy Buzek (President of the European Parliament until 2012).

SEARCH AND CAPTURE IN RUSSIA

One of Kallas’s most notable issues is his frontal opposition to Vladimir Putin’s Russia. In a context marked by the war in Ukraine, the Baltic countries have emerged as Moscow’s main scourge in the European Union, probably due to their proximity to a conflict that is viewed more distantly on the western fringes of the bloc.

This stance has also been felt within Estonia’s own borders, where the government has ordered the dismantling of a large part of Soviet monuments in response to the invasion of Ukraine. In addition, the Baltic countries have begun the process of abandoning the Russian language and everything related to Moscow.

In this context, in the middle of last February the Russian Justice included Kallas and his Minister of Finance, Arvils Aseradens, on its list of people wanted and captured. Moscow accuses them of allowing “hostile acts” against Russia and assures “they are responsible for decisions that constitute a desecration of historical memory.”

Kallas was also hit by a business scandal involving her husband, Arvo Hallik, who had a nearly 25 percent stake in a transportation company that had continued moving raw materials to Russia despite bans imposed by the Estonian government. after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The head of state then responded to the criticism by admitting her husband’s mistake, but assured that at no time had the couple profited from it, and that “not a single euro” had been spent on Russian territory with these businesses. In addition, she assured that the ultimate goal of the business with the Russians was to help an Estonian company.