Kaja Kallas

As Europe grapples with Donald Trump’s turbocharged return to the world stage, Kaja Kallas, 48, has emerged as the continent’s unofficial truth-teller. Where others hedge or equivocate, the European Union’s top foreign policy official is unafraid — to a fault, her critics say — to puncture diplomatic platitudes and call things as she sees them. 

For the former Estonian prime minister, who was born under Soviet rule to a family that had suffered deportations to Siberia, Europe’s alliance with the United States is vital, but only as long as it remains reliable. Overdependence, she has warned, is a vulnerability. “We are trying to have more friends around the world,” she told a journalist in September. “I must say that considering the big picture and the behavior of the world’s superpowers, we are increasingly more popular.” 

When Trump accused Europe of lagging on Ukraine aid in the early days of his second term, Kallas pushed back, pointing out that the EU has outspent the U.S. in support for Kyiv. Rather than wilt under the U.S. president’s glare as other leaders have done, she accused him of “appeasement” toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.  

Before arriving in Brussels, Kallas spent three years as Estonia’s prime minister, steering her small Baltic country through the shocks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In European summits, she built a reputation as one the continent’s clearest voices on Russia — uncompromising, impatient and often right. While her approach ruffled feathers, including those of then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel, it raised her profile enough to convince her fellow leaders to make her the face of Europe’s collective foreign policy. 

These days, Kallas’ straight talk isn’t always appreciated by her 28 bosses. As the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, she is meant to speak for the bloc’s 27 national governments, including Putin-friendly leaders like Viktor Orbán and others who’d prefer she adopt a softer tone. She has also knocked heads with her immediate superior, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Her bid to recruit the controversial EU affairs veteran Martin Selmayr as her right-hand man was knocked down after objections from von der Leyen’s inner circle. 

Kallas, for her part, has indicated she has no intention of being reined in. As the first former head of government to hold the position, she brushed back criticism from her predecessor Josep Borrell after the former Spanish foreign minister criticized the EU for doing too little about Gaza. “Nothing happened with Borrell,” she told journalists. “We managed to get humanitarian aid to Gaza.” Whether her bluntness proves a liability or a new model for European diplomacy will define her tenure — and perhaps the EU’s voice in a harsher world. 

Check out the full POLITICO 28: Class of 2026, and read the Letter from the Editors for an explanation of the thinking behind the ranking.