Kaja Kallas replaces Josep Borrell as EU Foreign Minister

Former Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas became the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy as part of the EU’s regular five-year power transfer.

Kallas replaced Josep Borrell, who held the position since 2019 and was an outspoken critic of Israel.

Kallas resigned from her position as Estonia’s prime minister to take the position.

On her first day in office, she, along with the newly appointed EU Council President Antonio Cósta and EU Commissioner Marta Kos, went to Kyiv.

Kallas’s tenure is expected to be much more focused on the war in Ukraine, with her saying the EU wants a Ukrainian victory.

Kallas will be the first non-Western European to hold the position, and as the former prime minister of Estonia, she is keenly aware of the threat Russia poses to the EU as a whole.

This shift signals the EU’s refocusing on the war in Ukrainian-Russian war.

EU positions on Israel

Borrell was a very outspoken critic of Israel, regularly criticizing the Jewish state, with the criticism becoming sharper following October 7.

In contrast, Kallas’s opinions on Israel and Palestine are relatively unknown. She criticized Israel for staying neutral on the Ukraine War, calling on the government to denounce Putin’s invasion, but she also praised Netanyahu’s 2022 victory and said she wanted to strengthen the bonds between Estonia and Israel.

Kallas also praised Israel’s defense against Hamas and said that Hamas showed “no regard for human life, including for the lives of their fellow Palestinians.”

She also condemned Iran’s April attack against the Jewish state as unjustified and called it “a serious escalation.”

Kallas is unlikely to be as anti-Israel as Borrell, as he attempted to end his term by suspending all dialogue with Israel. This decision, which required unanimity, was rejected by the EU member states.