France proposes EU foreign policy overhaul, elevating Kaja Kallas role

France has pushed a plan to rewrite how the European Union handles foreign policy, and one version would give Kaja Kallas a much stronger hand inside the bloc’s executive machinery. The proposal lands as Brussels faces wars, trade shocks and strategic pressure, and it raises a bigger question: can 27 governments act like a single geopolitical bloc when crises demand speed?

French officials outlined three broad options. One would put all EU foreign policy under the European Commission. Another would shift diplomatic functions toward the Council of the European Union. The third, and most ambitious, would reinforce Kallas’s role inside the Commission itself, a change that would rebalance authority between national capitals, EU institutions and the bloc’s top diplomat.

The tension comes from a system built to share power but often criticized for splitting it. The European External Action Service was created by a Council decision on 26 July 2010 and formally launched on 1 January 2011. Under the current setup, the High Representative chairs the Foreign Affairs Council, ensures consistency and coherence in the EU’s external action, and leads a diplomatic network of 144 delegations around the world. The Foreign Affairs Council, meanwhile, handles foreign policy, diplomatic relations, security and defence matters, trade agreements and international partnerships. French officials see overlapping responsibilities between the Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, and the External Action Service, led by Kallas, as a source of delay and dysfunction.

Under the most far-reaching option, Kallas would become the Commission’s "first executive vice president" and take over a broader portfolio that includes external relations, trade and economic development. That would matter far beyond bureaucratic titles. It would pull more authority into Brussels at a moment when Europe is under pressure to respond faster to Ukraine, to conflicts such as Gaza, and to a possible second Trump-era strain on transatlantic alliances. It would also test how much room EU member states are willing to give up when foreign policy, once treated as a national preserve, becomes a matter of continental scale.

Kallas has welcomed the fresh debate in an email to staff, saying the system could work better with less duplication. She also stressed that treaty-defined responsibilities already exist. In recent remarks, Kallas has said the EU will never be a classic mediator in the Ukraine war, and she has warned that the United States, China and Russia all prefer a divided Europe. That argument now sits at the center of France’s push: whether the EU can stay a loose collection of capitals, or finally redesign itself for power.