EXCLUSIVE: Kallas’ comments on Israeli ‘apartheid’ deepen EU foreign policy crisis | EURACTIV EN

During high-level talks in Mexico, Kaja Kallas compared Israel to apartheid-era South Africa, breaking with the EU’s official line on foreign policy and fueling controversy over his mandate.

This remark comes as the European External Action Service (EEAS), which she heads, is the subject of unprecedented criticism over its suitability for its mission, in the context of Donald Trump’s second term and increased geopolitical uncertainty.

Former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas visited Mexico City from May 20-22 as part of a high-level EU delegation attending a major summit in that country.

In closed-door, confidential meetings with Mexican government officials, Kallas compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank to South Africa’s racist apartheid policies, which ended in the early 1990s.

Officials and diplomats, some of whom were present at the meeting, told Euractiv that she had explained how moved she had been by a visit made last year in South Africa and at the Apartheid Museum located in the capital, Johannesburg.

South Africa had a strict state policy of forced racial segregation between whites and blacks, known as apartheid, which lasted from 1948 to the early 1990s before being abolished by figures such as Nelson Mandela.

Strong words

The accusation that Israel’s policies and military action, following the Hamas attacks in October 2023, are part of an apartheid-type policy, racist towards Palestinians or Arabs, is highly controversial.

While the Irish and Spanish governments show some sympathy, the EU has clearly distanced itself from these allegations, which have been categorically rejected by countries such as Germany and France.

This allegation also forms the basis of South Africa’s complaint to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where the country claims Israel violated its obligations under the Gaza Genocide Convention.

In line with EU policy, Kallas recognized Israel’s right to self-defense, but said the response must be proportionate, while criticizing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which she judges as undermining the possibility of of a two-state solution.

“The EU criticizes Israel and supports a two-state solution. The comparison with apartheid is unacceptable and does not correspond to EU policy. “It’s a serious problem if she makes this kind of statement while officially representing the EU on the international stage,” said a European diplomat.

Kallas’ office was asked for a reaction on Monday, but declined to comment, either to confirm or deny this information.

This is not the first diplomatic blunder committed by Kallas in recent weeks.

At an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers on May 28 in Limassol, Cyprus, Kallas made a mistake that could have damaged relations between the EU and the United States.

Responding to a warning from Moscow for foreign diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital, kyiv, and threats of imminent large-scale attacks, she said Putin was trying to sow fear. Kallas went on to say: “All European embassies remained; the Americans are gone.”

His statement was incorrect because the American diplomats had not left kyiv. “These errors are unacceptable for an EU foreign policy official,” said another European diplomat.

Political crisis

Kallas’ comments reinforced and deepened an internal political crisis within the EEAS and EU institutions regarding the conduct of European foreign policy.

A senior Commission official noted that his “repeatedly reckless comments” reinforced criticism from a growing number of national governments, including those of France, Germany, Sweden, Finland and Ireland.

“If a national foreign minister makes imprudent and undiplomatic remarks, he may be summoned by his prime minister or a person of the same rank. In the EU system it doesn’t work that way. And yet, [Kallas] speaks on behalf of the 27 member states,” added this senior official.

Kallas’ position is both high representative of the Union for foreign affairs and security policy and vice-president of the European Commission, or HRVP.

This role embodies the delicate position that the EEAS occupies in the EU institutional architecture, as a formally independent body, but politically linked to both the Commission and the member states.

Brussels sources noted that three of the five high-level positions within the EEAS, under Kallas’ responsibility, are currently vacant within the diplomatic service.

While the position of HRVP and that of the EEAS are enshrined in community law, a debate is opening within certain national foreign ministries, particularly in France, as to its future.

“It is clear that we cannot continue like this,” said one diplomat.

Thursday, Kallas a rapondu to these criticisms. “It is important to remember that the roles and responsibilities of the EU institutions are clearly defined in the treaties. This framework remains unchanged,” she wrote in an email to staff.

Additional reporting by Elisa Braun and Bruno Waterfield.

(bw, mm, jp)