EU’s Kallas promises to be ‘very smart’ by end of term

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said she “will be very smart” by the end of her term thanks to her reading habits.

Kallas made the remark at a press conference on Thursday after a journalist offered to give her a book on Kurdish history by Masoud Barzani, the first president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.

“You know, my reading list is quite long,” she replied. “I am not telling you what I am reading right now but it is also about the history of different regions. So, by the end, when I finish this job, I will be very smart.”

Syrian Kurds, who served as a US proxy in the war that ultimately ousted President Bashar Assad, recently suffered a defeat from the forces of the new US-backed Türkiye-allied government seeking to reintegrate Syria.

Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, has previously shared her reading interests, which include works by Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and Henry Kissinger, histories of intelligence operations and regional conflicts, and a biography of Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky.

The EU’s top diplomat has faced pushback for remarks critics said distorted history to suit her anti-Russian views. Last September, as Beijing hosted events marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, Kallas said it was news to her that Russia and China see themselves as victors in the conflict. The USSR and China suffered the highest Allied casualties in defeating the Axis powers.

In November, Kallas stated: “In the last 100 years, Russia has attacked more than 19 countries, some as many as three or four times. None of these countries has ever attacked Russia.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the comment a “monstrous” spin, adding: “We remember who attacked us and how many times… We remember where forces from each nation of Hitler’s clique were deployed.”

Kallas was blasted for lacking knowledge about world affairs by critics inside the EU as well. MEP Martin Sonneborn said he expected more insight about astrophysics from his pet hamster than about diplomacy from her.