Although last week’s informal EU summit seemed to converge on Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas as future high representative of the European Union, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has recently expressed her misgivings about her nomination.
Brothers of Italy (FdI) party insiders in Brussels said that the Italian objection to the post is mainly that it would give the Reform branch of the EU parliament, to which Kallas belongs, too much influence in the European Parliament compared to the way the balance of power has shifted to the right.
The formal objection from Giorgia Meloni and the ECR group she leads was the lack of consultation, but in practice, the problem with the Estonian candidate was that Renew had a poor electoral performance, is no longer the third-largest group, and would be disproportionately weighted by such a position.
Analysts also point out that Meloni may be wary of Kallas’ appointment for other reasons. Meloni is reluctant to give a Baltic leader the foreign policy reins, fearing that the center of gravity would be too far to the east and focus less on the Mediterranean and migration issues.
Kallas’ appointment would not have pleased some European People’s Party (EPP) leaders either, as they explained at a pre-summit meeting in Brussels on Monday. This means that the final decision on the post of EU’s top diplomat will likely only be decided at the June 27-28 official summit, along with the rest of the top positions.
