Kallas Withdraws Her High-Level Group on Defence a Day Before Its Brussels Launch
Brussels, 7 September 2026
Key points
- The EU's High Representative Kaja Kallas withdrew her High-Level Group on Defence the day before its scheduled launch, telling invitees on Sunday afternoon
- The group was to have met at a fireside-chat event at the Bibliothèque Solvay in Brussels, with about 150 attendees drawn from EU institutions, NATO and think tanks
- EEAS spokesperson Wigand said "some member states felt this was not the right path to take at this time" and that the office had "decided not to take the initiative any further"
- Politico reports France and Germany withheld support, Italy also declined, over a domestic dispute on candidates and duplication with Andrius Kubilius's own defence-industry brief
- Politico names the intended chair as former NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, with Jüri Luik and Florence Parly among the members
Kaja Kallas withdrew her High-Level Group on Defence on 7 September, the day it was due to launch at a Brussels fireside chat, after what her spokesman described as discussions with ministers in which "some Member States felt that this was not the right path to take at this time".
Kallas had announced the group a week earlier, on 1 September at an informal defence ministers' meeting in Wicklow, Ireland, describing "senior political and military leaders from several EU countries, but also from UK and Ukraine" who would produce, under her auspices, "a report setting out concrete recommendations for Europe's defence." The launch was billed as a fireside chat at the Bibliothèque Solvay on 7 September, drawing roughly 150 people from EU institutions, NATO and think tanks. Invitees were told it was off on Sunday afternoon, one day out. Her spokesperson's line was thin: "Some member states felt this was not the right path to take at this time," adding that the office had "decided not to take the initiative any further" and would explore "new ways to engage with Member States."
Politico, citing diplomats, reported that France and Germany withheld support and Italy also declined, and attributed the withdrawal to three overlapping objections: the group duplicated work already assigned to defence and space commissioner Andrius Kubilius, preparatory coordination with capitals had been insufficient, and Italy's government was in a domestic dispute over which nationals should sit on it. Politico also supplied the names Kallas's own announcement had not — former NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen as chair, with former Estonian defence minister Jüri Luik and former French defence minister Florence Parly among the members — attributions that stay with Politico, not confirmed by the EEAS.
The group was to look beyond the institutions; the objection relayed is that it overlapped with one of them. Kubilius's office runs the SAFE loan instrument of EUR 150 billion and the European Defence Industry Programme; the group would have carried no budget, no legislative role and no authority over forces or procurement, and its output was to be one report. That the capitals blocked a body with no powers rather than let it sit says more about who they accept as author of Europe's defence recommendations than about the report itself. As Signal No. 140 put it, the test is whether Kallas replaces the format with one the capitals are willing to own; neither the spokesman's "new ways to engage" nor the governments that withheld support has named a successor.
