Brussels – A high‑level group on defence and the mutiny of Member States: in the end, the responsibility for the initiative’s failure, and for the rift with the Member States, lies entirely with Kaja Kallas. According to what has emerged, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy acted on her own initiative and of her own accord, without informing anyone. She herself decided to create a dedicated body for strategic defence reflection and only informed defence ministers once everything was already set up, during the informal meeting earlier this month. That was where the spark for the Member States’ vetoes was ignited, leading to Kallas’s subsequent U‑turn.
So there would be no friction tied to any specific country. Several countries challenged both the method and the substance of the initiative. The High Representative is being criticised for failing to consult, inform, or involve the ministers of the Member States on a matter that remains a strongly national one. Furthermore, on the European political agenda, defence involves industrial and competitiveness aspects that make the debate more complex, and the idea of a select group of “wise people” does not seem to be the most appropriate way forward.
In the end, Kallas delivers a flop and an avoidable misstep, had she handled the initiative with more care and tact. This incident is certainly a black mark on someone who is repeating past mistakes: even the plan for Ukraine, which she presented to the 27 member states in early 2025, was tabled after the fact, without warning and without any form of communication. The High Representative is therefore showing that she has not learnt from these unfortunate experiences, thereby contributing to her own increasing loss of credibility in the eyes of her counterparts.
All the more so given that the status and role of the current High Representative are already undermined by the idea of a merger of the European External Action Service, for which Kallas is responsible, with the European Commission. This is a scenario that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is considering. Kallas is operating in a context where everyone knows that her position, already limited in power, could face further curtailment. It is probably this that prompted her to demand decision-making autonomy, resulting in her casting herself in a bad light and achieving the opposite of what she intended. Kallas will now have to work to dispel the discontent she has caused, and try to take centre stage with initiatives that are more appealing and, above all, less personalised.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
