By Gudrun Dometeit

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It was some time before Moscow's attack on Ukraine in February 2022 that I sat down for a chat with a former top Estonian politician. Quite informally, we discussed Europe, Vladimir Putin, security and her personal plans for the future. Finally, I cautiously asked whether Balts could mediate the increasingly tense relationship between Russia and the West. Because even though the historical experiences with the Soviet Union were not good, they were familiar with the way of thinking, had large Russian minorities in their countries and at the same time were firmly anchored in the West, I argued. The reaction: complete incomprehension, the Russians could never be trusted. NEVER! No point in talking. My dialogue partner stood up indignantly and hurried away.

With Kaja Kallas, another Estonian politician has been helping to shape the fate of Europe for four months, as Foreign Minister of the European Union. And she, the former prime minister, also makes no secret of how much history determines her thoughts and actions. The occupation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union, the deportation of thousands to Siberia, the bloody struggle for independence. “Russia hasn't changed,” she said last year. “Evil lives on in Russia.” Kallas's mother, grandmother and great-grandmother were also banned for ten years during Stalin's dictatorship. For Kallas, Russia's attack on Ukraine is a repetition of history. From the outset, she was one of the harshest critics, pleaded for severe punishment for war crimes, invoked solidarity with Ukraine at every opportunity and sent the country significantly more weapons in terms of economic strength than most major EU countries.

That was all her right, all-too-understandable right as prime minister of a small country with a tragic history and an approximately 300-kilometer long border with Russia, which runs right through the middle of a city. But is it also the right of the highest EU diplomat? Kallas was barely in office for a day when she drove to Kyiv and declared that the EU wanted Ukraine to win the war. A wording that the Union had avoided until then. “If you listen to her, you get the impression that we are at war with Russia, which is not in line with the EU line,” an EU diplomat complained to Politico. Kallas also tried to free up another 45 billion euros for arms supplies to Ukraine. Armament, punishment of Putin, everything can be heard, but no plan as to what a future peace order in Europe could look like, for example. How the EU could gain at least a little more influence on the ceasefire talks between Americans, Ukrainians and Russians. Instead, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled a meeting with her when she was already in Washington.

Many Balts regarded Kallas's top job as a kind of assistance dividend for their unwavering support for Ukraine. But this must be invested in other issues, in clever politics, if the EU wants to have more say, more leadership in the world. Especially now, when things are burning all over again. Because of a president in the White House who drifts in this direction, sometimes in that direction, out-of-control spinning top. Because of a Turkey that is becoming ever more authoritarian at home and ever more self-confident abroad, on whose security contribution Europe is dependent. Because of a nuclear problem in Iran, which the Europeans, above all Germany's top diplomat Helga Schmid, played a key role in solving as recently as 2015.

Certainly, standing down alongside the dominant EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is not easy. “The Commission President leaves her no political room for manoeuvre,” the French newspaper Le Monde quoted an EU diplomat a few days ago. “That is the fate of all commissioners, but Kaja Kallas has come to terms with it.” In doing so, the office has actually gained in competencies, Kallas is also responsible for defense and is also vice president. But she doesn't care about it. More than that. She seems to derive her politics from her own family history. In doing so, Europe's top diplomat must represent the interests of the entire Community, must talk to everyone, in all regions, perhaps especially with autocrats and, if necessary, also with Russia. Because what do diplomats do? Listen, talk, put yourself in the mind of your opponents too, communicate. In any case, that's what it says in some textbooks. If she doesn't change anything, Kallas is in danger of becoming an outright miscast. It is definitely a false start.