Kaja Kallas, the EU’s chief diplomat, is leading a fierce behind-the-scenes push against Franco-German plans to overhaul her diplomatic service — courting capitals and using a new secretary-general to develop alternative reform plans.
Kallas’ campaign involves convincing EU governments that the bloc’s foreign-policy problems stem from unanimous decision-making rules and poor implementation of its treaties — not from the current institutional setup, according to three EU officials informed of her plans. They were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal strategy.
The fight comes as the 15-year-old European External Action Service faces criticism that it is no longer fit for purpose at a moment when Russia’s war against Ukraine, Donald Trump’s demands on Europe, conflict in the Middle East and a more confrontational China are all testing the bloc’s ability to act abroad. The Commission is also expanding its role in foreign policy, while Berlin is pressing to cut EU operating costs amid negotiations over the bloc’s next long-term budget.
Kallas’ allies fear that an overhaul intended to make EU foreign policy more effective could instead give President Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission greater control over the work overseen by the high representative.
“If I have somebody above me who is actually deciding, then it doesn’t work,” Kallas told journalists Wednesday after a debate with EU foreign ministers in Wicklow, Ireland.
One diplomat, referring to the Franco-German plans, said: “She [Kallas] wants to delay the whole process because she doesn’t want to be subject to von der Leyen.” Another said “she wants this whole thing to go away.”
The pushback is taking shape through Kajsa Ollongren, the EEAS’ new secretary-general, who has been touring EU capitals to discuss reform proposals with national governments.
Ollongren will brief staff on the findings from that tour at a town hall meeting with the EEAS this week, where Kallas will formally introduce her, according to the officials and an EU diplomat.
Ollongren is also expected to propose the creation of a “council of elders” task force to reflect on possible internal reforms, one of the officials said.
The group would include the EEAS’ former secretary-general, Belén Martínez Carbonell, who has delayed taking up a new role as head of the EU delegation in Mexico to advise Ollongren. Senior EEAS official Charles Fries is also set to contribute, according to the officials and the diplomat.
The push seeks to give the EEAS more control over a reform debate that could determine whether the service remains a distinct part of the EU’s foreign policy machinery or becomes more closely integrated into the Commission.
The Franco-German plans, set out in a paper seen by POLITICO, include moving much of the EEAS staff into the EU executive. Although they call for reinforcing Kallas’ formal role, her allies see them potentially allowing von der Leyen’s Commission to take greater control of foreign policy.
The EEAS currently straddles the Council and the Commission: Kallas works with national governments in the Council, where foreign policy decisions are made, while the service coordinates with the Commission on its external-facing work.
Kallas signaled her concern about the plans on Wednesday, saying a “majority” of EU foreign ministers had opposed the institutional change.
In recent days, in addition to the Franco-German discussion paper on the EEAS, 11 capitals including Paris and Berlin signed an open letter to Kallas calling for more efficient decision-making in EU foreign policy.
The letter opens the door to the selective use of qualified majority voting for foreign and security policy decisions. Currently, any decision on topics under those headings requires unanimous backing — leading to major bottlenecks under former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who opposed the bloc’s support for Ukraine.
While agreeing with the aim of making EU foreign policy faster-moving and better able to protect the bloc’s interests, Kallas argued Wednesday that the solution is to enforce EU treaties and legal texts that, in theory, give her oversight of the Commission’s external-facing policy units without requiring big reforms.
“The problem is not the treaties, the institutional setup,” she said. “The problem is the implementation.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated the names of Kajsa Ollongren and Belén Martínez Carbonell.
