Baltic State Leaders Join European Commission Leadership

Ursula von der Leyen speaking at the European Parliament (European Parliament)

European Union President Ursula von der Leyen announced her administration’s new cabinet, known as the European Commission, on September 17. During a five-year term, the Commission’s 27 members serve as the European Union’s top political leadership. With her selections, von der Leyen placed some of Europe’s most pressing issues in the hands of two prominent Baltic state leaders: Estonia’s Kaja Kallas and Lithuania’s Andrius Kubilius. From space technology to the war in Ukraine, both Kallas and Kubilius face a wide range of challenges. 

Kaja Kallas is the former Prime Minister of Estonia and is described as a “vocal backer” of Ukraine by the Associated Press. Von der Leyen tapped Kallas to handle international affairs as the EU’s top foreign policy chief. Her portfolio, outlined by von der Leyen in her mission letters, documents objectives for her incoming cabinet of commissioners, including strengthening the relationships between EU institutions, crafting military and security policy, as well as maintaining environmental sustainability. 

Also chosen as a Vice-President of the Commission, Kallas’s work will focus on the EU-NATO partnership. She is also tasked with writing a “White Paper of the Future of European Defense” alongside EU Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius within 100 days of their mandate, which von der Leyen enacted on September 17, 2024.

Kubilius, former Prime Minister of Lithuania, is set to become the first defense and space commissioner in European Union history. According to Reuters, the role is designed to “boost the continent's arms industry,” but will also include issues as far-reaching as satellite and rocket policy, according to POLITICO. Greater collaboration between European countries in these sectors is a major goal of the von der Leyen administration.

As a member of the European Parliament, Kubilius has been an outspoken advocate of EU enlargement. He proposed a phase-out of EU dependence on Russian oil and gas, and according to Euronews supported the addition of Ukraine and the Balkan states to the union. Kubilius was also a member of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee and authored a number of initiatives concerning the Western response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Challenges to his position include lack of adequate space funding and domestic economic concerns, all symptoms of “institutional friction”, according to POLITICO. Kallas may also anticipate challenges to her work as Hungary is set to hold the EU presidency starting in January 2025. The administrative change could threaten the future of the EU’s Green Deal and even Ukraine’s application status as a member state. According to Euronews, political infighting among member states, namely between France and the European Commission, further complicates the challenging tasks set before Kubilius and Kallas.