Ask the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib not to support the candidacy of Estonian Kaja Kallas for the position of High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. This template letter argues why, but anyone can draft their own version and send it to contact@premier.be and hadja.lahbib@diplobel.fed.be 

Dear Mr. Alexander de Croo, Prime Minister of Belgium
Dear Mrs. Hadja Lahbib, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium

I am ….insert name and/or organisation...

I am writing to you because I am concerned about the nomination of Mrs. Kaja Kallas, until recently Prime Minister of Estonia and member of RENEW Europe (the same political group in the EU Parliament to which your respective political parties belong), as the future High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and head of the European External Action Service (EEAS).

Mrs. Kallas is well-known for her strong statements against the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, which in itself is perfectly understandable keeping in mind the difficult history of Estonia and Estonians during the Soviet Union. The Russian invasion in Ukraine is a clear violation of international law and it is justified and necessary to condemn it. It is however something else to fervently plead for escalating the war and for sending ever more and heavier weapons to Ukraine. The head of the diplomatic service of any country should -as the word itself implies- be diplomatic in his or her public statements.

In addition to this, a vast majority of EU citizens is by now in favour of ending the bloody Russian-Ukrainian war, instead of further fuelling and escalating it with weapons packages and/or inflammatory speeches.

As a consequence, Mrs. Kallas, who minimizes with a smile on her face (see video-link: min. 01.01.03), the nuclear danger for the whole of Europe when stating she is in favour of militarily defeating Russia and even breaking the country up in smaller states, simply isn’t the right person for this high position.

Moreover, the former head of state of a country like Estonia, that has co-invaded Iraq in 2003 (along with the USA, the UK and last but not least Ukraine), cannot represent the European Union in the Arab/Muslim world, nor in the wider Global South, since she rather embodies what Mr. Josep Borrell, the current High Representative, openly admits are the double standards of the European Union in international politics. These double standards are also clearly evident in the reaction (or lack thereof) of the EU to the Israeli war on Gaza.

While Russia was quickly and decisively met with EU sanctions and condemnations after it invaded Ukraine, Israel barely got a slap on the wrists. Even now, after tens of thousands of civilian deaths and numerous serious war crimes documented by the UN, Israel can count on the open diplomatic and even military support of EU member states. Kallas has often expressed her sympathy for Israel and therefore has been called “pro-Israel” by the Israeli press. With Kallas in office, it can be expected that the EU will be less critical of Israel’s violent behaviour in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.  

Usually Estonia obediently follows the US line on foreign policy. This is clearly demonstrated by its willingness in 2003 to participate in the unprovoked, unjustified and illegal war of aggression of Western countries against an already war-torn Iraq, at Washington's request.

How will Belgium in the near future explain to its citizens and its inhabitants with Arab roots, that in its capital, Brussels, an EU diplomatic institution of major importance (the EEAS) is being headed by a person whose country has illegally invaded Iraq and has refused to condemn Israel’s large scale war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.
Accepting Mrs. Kaja Kallas as the future High Representative of the EU would only prove that the EU, Belgium and Brussels have not learned lessons from history.

Estonia strongly condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine is logical. Estonia not condemning the Israeli war in Gaza is inconsistent. Estonia invading Iraq in the past and forgetting about it, while condemning Russia for doing the same in Ukraine is simply incongruent, not to say dissonant. 

For the reasons above I kindly ask you to use the means at your disposal to convince Mrs. Kaja Kallas to withdraw her candidature for the position of future High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and head of the European External Action Service.

Yours truly,

...insert name and/or organisation...