[News Figure] Kaya Kallas, New EU Foreign Affairs Chief

'New European Union (EU) Foreign Affairs Chief' Kaya Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, mentioned regarding the deployment of troops to Ukraine that "the EU can send troops to Ukraine if a ceasefire negotiation between Ukraine and Russia takes place." Kallas, who was the Prime Minister of Estonia bordering Russia, also stated, "The strongest security guarantee for Ukraine is NATO membership."

Photo by Kaya Kallas Official Twitter

Foreign media reported on the 1st (local time) that Kaya Kallas, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Ant?nio Costa, President of the European Council, and Maro? ?ef?ovi?, European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, visited Kyiv and met with President Zelensky.

Kaya Kallas was the first female Prime Minister of Estonia, a small Nordic Baltic Sea country with a population of 1.3 million. Born in 1977, Kallas is a politician who previously worked as a lawyer specializing in fair trade. She began her parliamentary career in 2011 with the Reform Party, a centrist-right reformist party founded and led 30 years ago by her father, Siim Kallas. Since 2017, she served as the first female leader of the party. Siim Kallas led Estonia’s transition to a market economy during the dissolution of the Soviet Union and served as Estonia’s Prime Minister and European Commissioner for Transport in the 2000s.

In the March 2019 general election, the Reform Party secured 34 out of 101 seats, becoming the largest party and effectively reserving the Prime Minister position for Kallas. The centrist-progressive Centre Party won only 26 seats, falling to second place. However, the coalition government of the Centre Party, the nationalist EKRE party, and the conservative Isamaa party was maintained. When former Prime Minister J?ri Ratas of the Centre Party resigned amid a corruption scandal, an opportunity arose for Kallas. The Reform Party appointed the first female Prime Minister in Estonia’s 103-year history since its founding in 1918.

Becoming Estonia’s 19th Prime Minister in 2021, Kallas faced criticism for benefiting from her father’s influence but gained international recognition for her consistently tough stance against neighboring Russia. Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, Kallas has been a leading 'hawk' in Europe supporting Ukraine and imposing economic sanctions on Russia. The Russian government even placed Kallas on a wanted list. In June, the seven EU member state leaders unanimously nominated Kallas as the next EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. She also concurrently serves as the First Vice-President of the European Commission, equivalent to a member of the State Council. Kallas resigned from the Prime Minister position to move to her role in the EU.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.