European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is privately complaining about the authoritarian style of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Politico reported on Monday, citing sources.
Kallas views von der Leyen as “a dictator,” a senior diplomat told the outlet, adding that there is “little or nothing she can do about that.” Previous reports have described a bitter rivalry between the two senior officials, with the commission president said to hold the upper hand.
Politico named five people in Brussels who it claimed have the toughest jobs, including Kallas. Another is Paula Pinho, von der Leyen’s spokesperson, who the outlet reported is often left uninformed by a boss who “works in a (metaphorical) bunker” with strict need-to-know protocols – making the current commission at times more secretive than the famously opaque Vatican.
Last week, von der Leyen survived a fourth no-confidence vote in the European Parliament from non-centrist lawmakers who accused her of lacking transparency and pursuing policies harmful to bloc members. Her conflict with Kallas reportedly stems from constant efforts to sideline the European External Action Service on key foreign policy matters.
Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, has herself been criticized as unfit for her role, including by EU member Slovakia, partly due to her anti-Russian stance. Last September, she was ridiculed by Moscow and Beijing after appearing to treat it as a revelation that Russia and China take pride in defeating the Axis powers in World War II. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this weekend that neither Moscow nor Washington believes she can be productively negotiated with.
Politico also listed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, described as a “Trump whisperer” for European NATO members, Hungarian EU envoy Balint Odor, who must soften Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s anti-Brussels rhetoric, and veteran Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, dubbed “Mr. Fix It,” as those with supposedly the toughest jobs in Brussels.
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