Member states should be in the driver’s seat when Europe’s defence is concerned, Kaja Kallas told MEPs. But the car should also get moving — it’s not enough to be in the driver’s seat, but actually to drive, the European Union’s top diplomat told the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs.
Guarded optimism—mostly coming from the realisation that there is little downside to it—resonated through Tuesday’s exchange of views between EU High Representative and Commission Vice-President Kaja Kallas and the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee (AFET). The MEPs, on their part, were mostly supportive, but also somewhat sceptical.
The 90-minute session was predictably dominated by the Ukraine war. It underlined the tightrope Europe must walk: Ms Kallas urged bigger budgets, wider partnerships and steely resolve against Russia, yet faced politicians who feared strategic drift in Africa, quarrels with America and scarce cash at home. The strongest idea—Europe can do more if it believes in itself—rang through her every reply. Whether member states share that belief will decide if her roadmap survives contact with reality.
AFET Chair David McAllister opened the hearing with a warning. The German law-maker said his committee’s annual report “sets out a clear and strategic orientation for the European Union’s foreign policy at a time of rapidly growing instability.” Accelerating authoritarian pressure, a weakened multilateral system and fiercer global competition demanded “greater unity, greater resilience and capacity to act.”
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Hard power first
Ms Kallas thanked him for the expression of confidence. “We all knew it’s going to be an extremely tough year,” she said, before adding that 2026 would not bring respite. Europe still faced “a full-scale war on our continent,” actors who wished to upend the rules-based order and repeated shocks to the global system.
Yet she saw opportunity. By backing Ukraine, “building up our defence collectively together with our closest allies” and teaming up with partners to bolster regional stability and economic integration, the Union could widen its foreign-policy footprint.
She offered three concrete examples of recent progress. First came hard power. “We secured record funding to support Ukraine’s defence, as well as five major sanctions packages against Russia,” Ms Kallas said. Those measures, she claimed, were stripping “tens of billions of euros” from the Kremlin’s war chest.
Punching back
The Estonian warned that Europe must “stick to our guns” because “the war in Ukraine drags on because Russia refuses to stop.” Vladimir Putin “pretends that Europe is the obstacle to peace when nothing could be further away from truth.” Backing Kyiv now cost far less, she argued, than paying for “a full-scale war on the European Union.”
Although imperfect, (multilateralism) is the best international system we have. — Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Defence
She pressed for faster action on a reparations loan. The IMF reckoned Ukraine would need €135 bn in 2026-27. “Giving Ukraine the resources it needs to defend itself does not prolong the war,” she said. “It can help end it.”
Her second example was the “biggest overhaul of European defence since European Union’s inception.” A white paper, the Roadmap towards Readiness 2030 and blueprints on military mobility would ensure that record defence budgets produced real capabilities.
Partners in arms
Ms Kallas highlighted eight new defence partnerships, including one with the United Kingdom. Early results pleased her. “European funding to Ukraine with Norway” and a joint EU-Japan naval patrol in the Red Sea showed that “there is always safety in numbers.” Last month EU and Indian warships foiled a pirate attack off Somalia, proof that civilian and military missions mattered. She conceded, though, that Brussels still needed “more focused missions and operations with clear objectives.”
Her third success story was multilateralism. “Although imperfect, it is the best international system we have,” she said. At a Southern Neighbourhood ministerial, Syria joined EU talks for the first time in 14 years, while North African Arab states and Israel sat together days after Hamas’s assault. An Indo-Pacific forum drew 64 countries “from the east coast of Africa to the Pacific Islands” to discuss maritime security and the defence of undersea cables.
Turning to the continent, Ms Kallas declared that “the case for EU enlargement today is clear.” A Union of more than 27 states by 2030 was “a realistic goal.” Candidate countries were aligning ever more with the EU’s foreign and security policy—not box-ticking, she insisted, but proof they wanted to “shape the world with us.”
The enlargement file
She cautioned that malign influence rose as applicants advanced. Russia was stepping up disinformation in Armenia and had targeted Moldova. She thanked the committee “for keeping up the fight against foreign interference.” Europe would continue to back civil society and free media because, as Moldova showed, a whole-of-society response could blunt hostile meddling.
Election observation offered another tool. “The European Union has so much experience to offer across the globe in defence of democracy,” she said, promising a joint conference in spring.
Pressure on Russia is not a peace plan. — MEP Sandra Kalniete (EPP/LAT)
Europe also held economic heft. “We have more leverage towards China, for example, than we tend to think,” Ms Kallas noted. A new economic-security strategy listed the instruments available. Using them would protect European industry, but that leverage “does not come for free.” New tasks meant “we need to increase our resources and use them more strategically.”
Wielding leverage
She asked MEPs to back a robust Global Europe envelope in the next long-term budget and to safeguard funds for the EU’s 145 delegations. Security costs at those posts were rising, yet she vowed not to shut any doors abroad. She also promised “complete transparency” in an ongoing corruption probe that had triggered two resignations at the External Action Service.
At this point lawmakers took the floor. MEP Michael Gahler (EPP/DEU) broadly endorsed Ms Kallas’s line but pushed for clarity. Citing peace plans that had shrunk from 28 points to 19 after talks in Moscow, he asked: “Where do we stand and what are our red lines?” He also quizzed her on the reparations fund and on the need to rethink European defence spending if America expected Europe to “take over the entire conventional part of collective defence.”
Answering, Ms Kallas said the forthcoming EU summit could yield an agreement that would “send a signal to Russia that it can’t outlast us” and show Kyiv that Europe remained firm. On defence she urged ministers to “change the mindset from the national to the European.” Capability coalitions led by member states but co-ordinated in Brussels would let governments procure assets “too big for any one country alone.”
A fragile alliance
Then the High Representative rose to the occasion with some rhetorical flourish. “Member states should be in the driver’s seat, they say,“ she said. “But then, you know, the car should also get moving, which is important even if you are in the driver’s seat. It’s not just to be in the driver’s seat, but actually drive.“
MEP Nacho Sánchez-Amor (S&D/ESP) wanted details about Turkey’s bid to join the EU’s defence platform and a “more common, strong response” to recent attacks on EU identity from Washington. Ms Kallas replied that Europe must be “more self-confident” because criticism from allies did not match European realities. The Union, she said, remained “the very essence of freedom.”
We have more leverage towards China, for example, than we tend to think. — Kaja Kallas
MEP António Tânger Corrêa (PfE/PRT) accused Brussels of “strategic myopia towards Africa” while wars in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique raged. MEP Hilde Vautmans (Renew/BEL) echoed him. Having seen the Congo-Rwanda deal signed in Washington, she lamented that “nothing is changing on the field” and begged the High Representative to “do something on Sudan, on Congo and Rwanda, urgently.”
Trouble with Washington
Ms Kallas then accepted that the rules-based order was “under a heavy, heavy attack” in many African theatres. Missions needed clear aims and resources, the former Estonian prime minister said. Too often member states called for action yet failed to supply troops or money.
MEP Villy Søvndal (Greens-EFA/DNK) read from the new American national-security-strategy, which claims EU migration policies erode sovereignty and free speech. He called the document “an insulting way of treating an ally” and asked what values Europe still shared with the United States. MEP Helmut Brandstetter (Renew/AUT) wondered if Europe was “strong enough” to tell America plainly that such treatment was intolerable.
Ms Kallas chose restraint. Europe preferred deeds to words. “We are building up our own defence industry,” reducing risky dependencies and forging global partnerships because, she insisted, many countries still view the EU as “the reliable and credible partner.”
Accountability matters
MEP Arkadiusz Mularczyk (ECR/POL) chided France and Belgium for resisting the use of frozen Russian assets and asked whether hold-outs should face pressure. For once Ms Kallas defended Berlin. “Germany has given us some very strong support,” she said, praising Chancellor Merz’s public support for a reparations loan.
Russia had attacked 19 nations in the past century, and none of these countries has ever attacked Russia. — Kaja Kallas
MEP Sandra Kalniete (EPP/LAT) feared that raw pressure on Russia did not amount to a peace plan. If leaders failed to agree on frozen assets on 18 December, “then what?” And what would Europe do if Washington forced Kyiv into concessions by withholding intelligence? Ms Kallas answered that talks could not start until Moscow negotiated in good faith. Russia had attacked 19 nations in the past century—“none of these countries has ever attacked Russia.” Applying pressure on Ukraine was “walking into Russian traps.”
MEP Urmas Paet (S&D/EST) urged action on legal responsibility for Russian crimes. More leaders, including India’s, seemed content to fete Mr Putin. Ms Kallas vowed the EU would be “much more vocal and acting systematically” to prevent impunity and would urge third countries to stop “welcoming this criminal leader.”
Budget pinch
Turning back to money, Ms Kallas admitted that the External Action Service was “struggling.” Security upgrades ate funding. Global challenges ballooned. She promised internal reforms to make her service “more effective, more agile, more relevant,” but she asked Parliament to supply the tools.
She ended on a note of cautious pride. “We have to celebrate what we have achieved this year,” she told the committee, while acknowledging that Europe was “just in the beginning.” She pledged to keep the dialogue with lawmakers open.
