At the 2025 Munich Security Conference, Kaja Kallas, who had recently been appointed as the European Commission’s top foreign policy official, made headlines by calling for Ukraine to join NATO and criticizing the United States for reneging on its longstanding security guarantees. One year later, NATO itself is in turmoil as conflict ramps up over US President Donald Trump’s lust for Greenland. From civil unrest in Tehran to renewed tensions in the Taiwan Strait, geopolitical concerns dominate the global agenda. When the foreign affairs world gathers in Munich again this February, there will be much to discuss.
Kallas, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, is treading a fine line between speaking out and protecting Europe’s tenuous working relationship with Washington. Nonetheless, she continues to be one of the strongest voices in Brussels for foreign policy action, such as her January call for stepped-up sanctions against Iran in response to protest crackdowns.
Tough talk is her biggest strength—and also her limitation. When it comes to Greenland, for example, the EU itself is not a member of NATO and not in the driver’s seat for taking action, nor is Greenland within the EU’s borders, despite being a Danish territory. Kallas and Brussels were hence excluded from a January statement by key national leaders opposing Trump’s claim. This kind of sidelining has prompted some commentators to write off Kallas as not very relevant when it comes to key decisions. What’s more, the EU often doesn’t have a unified foreign policy position, with Israel’s war in Gaza being a case in point.
Yet her willingness to be blunt has regularly been useful for opening up debate and making room for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to deliberate. With Kallas on call as the EU’s attack dog, von der Leyen herself can take time to read the political room and figure out the commission’s eventual stance. This makes Kallas a natural advocate for Europe, even if the details are left up to other players.
Coming Out Swinging
Kallas’ way with words has been evident since her first day in office in December 2024, when she posted that “the European Union wants Ukraine to win this war. We will do whatever it takes for that.” The former Estonian prime minister, from a region especially sensitive to the Russian threat, sought from the get-go to push the EU out of its carefully constructed formal statements into a more action-oriented alliance.
In her first months on the job, Kallas proposed sanctions on Georgia’s pro-Russian ruling party, pushed for increasing arms aid to Kyiv, and spoke out against the White House after the fraught February 2025 meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump, and US Vice President JD Vance. Her activist approach led to grumbling that she was still acting like a head of government, but her proposals showed a European-wide lens. For example, she proposed that EU member states should offer military aid to Ukraine in proportion to the size of their economy, rather than deferring to larger member states to volunteer how they would like to be involved.
This sort of leadership effort surprised skeptics of the EU’s European External Action Service, which has faced staff cutbacks and budget constraints. Indeed, the EU’s foreign policy arm has often been criticized as “weak and underdeveloped” compared to its member state peers.
Best of the Rest
The EU’s foreign policy point person has been through several incarnations over the bloc’s history. The current full-length job title—high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and vice president of the European Commission—dates back only to 2009 when the Lisbon Treaty came into force. There have been four office holders so far, each serving a five-year term. Of these, Kallas seems to be the most impressive so far, as a former prime minister and because her predecessors fared so poorly.
Catherine Ashton, the British politician who debuted the role between 2009 and 2014, faced strong hostility and finished her term on an at best lukewarm note. Italy’s Federica Mogherini, who served from 2014 to 2019, was seen as unqualified from the get-go and ineffective in the role. (She now faces corruption charges in an EU procurement scandal. Belgian police arrested her in December due to allegations that she had fraudulently secured an EU training contract at the College of Europe, where she became rector after leaving office.) Next up was Spain’s Josep Borrell, plucked from Europe’s south to bring geographic and political diversity to von der Leyen’s first slate of commissioners, between 2019 and 2024. His trademark was a notable lack of diplomacy, be it remarks about Gaza, the EU’s global weakness, and even his own staff. In 2022, he called the EU’s diplomatic corps slow, ineffective, and patronizing, while blaming them for not anticipating Russia’s full-scale Ukraine invasion.
All three of the former high representatives came from the Party of European Socialists political alliance, a handout to the center-left to compensate for the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) snagging the presidents of the European Commission, the European Council, and the European Parliament, among other top jobs. When von der Leyen, an EPP stalwart, was reappointed to a second mandate in 2024, the socialist alliance sought to shake things up. Portugal’s António Costa took over the leadership of the European Council, where he has played a more traditional behind-the-scenes role than his predecessor, Herman Van Rompuy, Donald Tusk, and Charles Michel. Meanwhile, the centrist Kallas took up a job with room for swagger.
Pushing Europe to Find Its Mettle
Kallas will need all of her convictions to help the EU navigate the difficult years ahead. The Trump White House continues its erratic behavior, where even domestic conflict threatens the international world order. If Trump is successful in destabilizing the Federal Reserve, for example, another global financial crisis could erupt. Europe cannot afford to recede into the background. Relative stability means Brussels, Paris, Berlin, and Rome may be overlooked as hotspots for new global leadership, but that same steadiness offers hope that the EU can forge a determined path toward prosperity and peace.
The US continues to provide intelligence and other behind-the-scenes support to the war in Ukraine, so Brussels cannot afford to alienate Washington completely. At the same time, Trump’s aggressive pronouncements cannot be allowed to let slide. Kallas’ willingness to speak out allows the EU to stand its ground, while making space for von der Leyen to continue her role as a constructive ally and negotiator of compromises. Capitals likewise can benefit from Kallas’ rhetorical boundary-pushing. Too often, governments are slow to revisit previous agreements or agreed-on stances. Regardless of whether or how countries choose to shake up the status quo, they benefit from having renewed motivation to get involved.
The EU does not naturally speak with one voice on complex geopolitical topics. Nonetheless, the bloc has shown extraordinary fortitude over the past decade, coming together to create fiscal backstops, marshal public health resources, and develop a true joint fiscal capacity. It also has repeatedly stepped up for Ukraine when it matters, such as the latest €90 billion aid package agreed upon in December 2025. Kallas’ strong voice is therefore an asset, whether or not her specific attempts to drive policy find footing. Europe has shown over and over again that when there is the political will, there is a way forward.
Rebecca Christie is IPQ’s Brussels columnist and a senior fellow at Bruegel, the economic think tank.
