Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kalas will be the new "chief of diplomacy" of the European Union. Her program is opposition to Russia and support for Ukraine, and many think that the pressure on Serbia will increase
They call her the "Estonian Lady of Steel", but that is unfair to the original "Lady of Steel", Margaret Thatcher. Estonian Prime Minister Kaya Callas (47) is not really that dangerous, although she enjoys the role.
On Thursday, it was confirmed that Kallas is moving from Tallinn to Brussels to become the EU's high representative for foreign policy and succeed there Joseph Borelj in office.
Kalas recommended herself for that position as a fierce opponent of Russia and Vladimir Putin. At European summits, it is Kalas who is often the leader of the countries that demand that Ukraine be armed even more and faster.
On a Russian wanted list
Russia issued a warrant for her. "He wants us to be afraid," said Callas, referring to Putin, "but that would only please him." That is why we should not be afraid."
Officially, Kalas and some other politicians from the Baltic states are wanted for the "criminal act" of removing Soviet anti-fascist monuments.
In the Baltic countries - especially with the beginning of the aggression against Ukraine - monuments from the Soviet era were removed en masse. A large number of people there saw the Russians as occupiers, not liberators anyway.
The attempt to tell Estonians what to do in their country is seen by Kalas as evidence that Putin has "imperialist dreams". "I must have done something right, as soon as the Russians are angry with me," she boasted.
And Kalas saw the Russians as occupiers. Among those deported to Siberia were her grandparents and her then six-month-old mother. "At the end of the occupation, the Russian minority in Estonia made up 30 percent of the population," says Kalas.
Admittedly, it is not easy for that minority in Estonia either - they are largely disenfranchised.
Bad news for Serbian spaga politics
Instead of the Catalan who opposes separatism, Josep Borrell, the position of high representative in Brussels will now be held by a woman whose program is opposition to Russia.
Several Serbian experts have already said that this can only mean less understanding and more pressure on Serbia, which is the only one that has not joined the sanctions against Russia. In the West, it is often written about the Serbian "policy of twine" or "swing" between East and West.
On the other hand, perhaps Callas performs rigidly, but has a flair for the practical. It is an open secret that Serbia is massively arming Ukraine for the war against the Russians. It is one of the trump cards of the Aleksandar Vučić regime, which buys in various ways to look through the fingers for the end of democracy at home.
Asked about Kaja Kalas in the new position, Vučić briefly said that this probably means that the post of enlargement commissioner will not appeal to anyone from Eastern Europe, which he seems to have wished for.
About herself, Kalas says that her election is a message to Russia and that there will be no dialogue with Moscow for five years. "This shows that the EU will, at any cost, maintain a very firm position towards Russia in the coming period," added Vučić.
The Prime Minister has stumbled.
Callas therefore moves - some would say evacuates - to Brussels. She appeared on the big stage as a star of the Reform Party, which was founded by her father in 1994. Today, after strict austerity measures, it is no longer so popular.
Shortly after coming to power, Kalas drastically raised taxes, and then fought for same-sex marriages, which half of Estonians reject.
Her image as a clean-handed politician who strongly opposes Russia was damaged when it was revealed that her husband was involved in the ownership of a company that continued to trade with Russia, despite the sanctions.
It also happened that high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff resigned, accusing Callas of allocating too little to the army.
In a March poll, two-thirds of citizens called for her resignation. In the elections for the European Parliament in early June, the Reformists won only 18 percent of the vote, which was a big slap in the face for Callas.
In the ways of his father
It is not the first time that personnel from the East of Europe who were practically wasted at home have been enthroned in Brussels. Today's Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was the head of the European Council while his party was in opposition at home. And he moved to Brussels from the position of prime minister, just in time.
By going to Brussels, Kaja Kalas is again following in the footsteps of her father, Sima Kalas, who was the head of diplomacy after the secession of Estonia from the Soviet Union, then the prime minister who managed the country's entry into the EU and NATO. Then he was the European Commissioner.
Thus, the three most important functions were divided in Brussels, and again care was taken to ensure that everyone was satisfied.
German Christian Democrat Ursula von der Leyen remains at the head of the European Commission. Portuguese socialist Antonio Costa will lead the European Council. And Kaja Kalas foreign policy.
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