The European Union could strip its foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, of key powers amid growing criticism of the bloc’s diplomatic service. Sergey Fedorov, a political analyst and senior researcher at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told NEWS.ru that Kallas’ work does not match the ambitions the EU claims for itself on the global stage.
Fedorov said the possible reform is not driven by a single issue. One of the main reasons, in his view, is dissatisfaction with the performance of the EU’s foreign policy apparatus. He noted that the structure often includes former officials from smaller states who lack the political weight needed to deal with major international challenges.
Kallas herself has also become a separate source of frustration, according to the analyst. Fedorov argued that the EU’s top diplomat has failed to meet the demands of a role that is supposed to reflect the bloc’s international ambitions. Cost-cutting may also be part of the discussion, he added.
European institutions are trying to reduce bureaucracy and lower expenses, Fedorov said. But he stressed that the central problem is not money. The bigger issue, in his assessment, is the quality of those who represent the European Union abroad.
A unified EU foreign policy remains difficult to build because of the bloc’s heavy bureaucracy and the diverging interests of individual member states, Fedorov said. In his view, the EU needs a politically stronger figure who could make its diplomacy look more convincing.
He also argued that Kallas is not coping with that task and that major EU countries are likely considering how the bloc can appear more forceful internationally. Fedorov said this would require new ideas, while European diplomacy currently shows no clear common direction apart from hostility toward Russia, which he described as a dead-end approach.
Earlier reports said the EU was discussing a radical reform of its diplomatic service amid failures attributed to the European External Action Service and its head, Kaja Kallas. One of the most likely options under discussion is said to be stripping Kallas and her department, which has a €1 billion budget, of their powers.