EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Wednesday poured cold water on plans to overhaul the bloc’s diplomatic branch, arguing that better enforcement of the current rules would make its foreign policy more effective. France and Germany have floated plans for root-and-branch reforms of Kallas’s European External Action Service, or EEAS, according to a discussion paper seen by POLITICO. The plans include giving her oversight of policy units in the European Commission that deal with external relations.
But after a debate on the proposed reforms among EU foreign ministers in Wicklow, Ireland, Kallas said that a “majority” of envoys had supported “the current institutional setup” of the EEAS. Meanwhile, the European Commission’s growing interest in foreign policy, including the creation of a unit dedicated to the Middle East and Africa, has sparked a turf war with Kallas’s EEAS. The Franco-German paper, among other ideas, proposed addressing this issue by giving Kallas oversight of external-facing policy units within the Commission, including migration, trade and development aid.
Kallas pushed back, arguing that EU treaties and legal texts already gave her this responsibility in theory — but were not properly enforced. Kallas’s role sits astride the Commission, where she is a vice president under President Ursula von der Leyen, and the European Council where she is tasked with coordinating the foreign policy positions of 27 EU states.
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