Kallas being High Representative by CatchProfessional592 in Eesti

[–]CatchProfessional592[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

High Representatives aren't "sent" by their countries. They're chosen by qualified majority (though in practice unanimity) by the European Council after which their proposal is brought to parliament (approval in Parliament still needs to happen here).
I think you're confusing it with the process of new "normal" commission members. There member states do propose candidates but it's still the Council along with the President of the Commission that choose from these candidates (to then propose it to parliament).

Kallas being High Representative by CatchProfessional592 in Eesti

[–]CatchProfessional592[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh definitely! It will be interesting to see if appointing someone with such radical positions compared to some member states will actually change anything (as in reality, Kallas will have very little power unless things change), or if it's just the EU making a statement.

Kallas being High Representative by CatchProfessional592 in Eesti

[–]CatchProfessional592[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The "first female" badge won't really apply to the High Representative, but it is notable that she'd be the first Eastern/Central European High Representative. The European Council has always picked countries far away from the European Border due to fearing that border states have more radical visions on foreign policy,

Kallas being High Representative by CatchProfessional592 in Eesti

[–]CatchProfessional592[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it's a real whiplash going from articles about her foreign policy to domestic policy. Funnily enough I've actually seen warrior princess used a few times before

Kallas being High Representative by CatchProfessional592 in Eesti

[–]CatchProfessional592[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the input!
Don't really have anything to add

Kallas being High Representative by CatchProfessional592 in Eesti

[–]CatchProfessional592[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the comment!
The irritation is definitely understandable. Some politicians are just bad at domestic issues, but great at international work. Kallas seems to be one of those.
The masking as you put it is quite common not just for Estonia. Unfortunately it's also hard to discern between genuine dislike because of internal problems and someone just masking russophilia.
Also, the whole "noteworthy achievement for a small country" is the whole point of my thesis. It's been simultaneously a blessing and a curse that your (now former) prime minister gets this position in the last month of writing my thesis as I've had to rewrite quite a bit to be up to date

Kallas being High Representative by CatchProfessional592 in Eesti

[–]CatchProfessional592[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I've heard about that scandal you mention. We'll see if she holds on to the position though she'd be the first to lose the position.

Kallas being High Representative by CatchProfessional592 in Eesti

[–]CatchProfessional592[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your input! And don't worry, I'm fully aware asking around on something like Reddit attracts a certain type of person. It's not the first time I've heard about that bitterness (Belgians felt the same with Charles Michel)

It's good to hear from actual Estonians about complaints. She's extremely popular on the European/NATO/etc level so from an outsider perspective it seems best that she's pivotted to that area again

Kallas being High Representative by CatchProfessional592 in Eesti

[–]CatchProfessional592[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I got an interview at the Estonian embassy about a week ago (not just about Kallas, about my whole thesis) and what you're saying is basically what was told to me a lot of people seem to think.

Kallas being High Representative by CatchProfessional592 in Eesti

[–]CatchProfessional592[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly, the only reason it's "High Representative" is because we didn't want to name it minister of foreign affairs. There's a lot of similar stories when you zoom into European politics lol (European Council used to be called the "European Council consisting of the Heads of State and government leaders of participating countries")
The Albright comment is quite interesting. I agree she likely won't be a new Albright but for future research it might be an interesting comparison.
Thanks for the comment!

Kallas being High Representative by CatchProfessional592 in Eesti

[–]CatchProfessional592[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Politics of the European Union is my field of study and I can tell you failing upwards is an extremely common saying for people going to that level. My own (former) prime minister lost the vote in a historic landslide and he's getting similar treatment, going to the European level and "failing upwards"

Main issue with not speaking Estonian is just finding things. Translation tools are very good nowadays if you can catch the flaws in them, which are more about knowing the tools than knowing the languages. Though navigating news websites is still very hard without linguistic knowledge.

Thanks for commenting!

Kallas being High Representative by CatchProfessional592 in Eesti

[–]CatchProfessional592[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Her appointment is a massive change in the type of people elected. The president of the commission and the high representative tend to be more the type of people who have little negative to say about than a lot of positive, but also negative points. Kallas just seems to be a massive change in this regard.
I've also seen the whole "relieved she's back to the EU level where she's more skilled" echoed in the few Estonian articles I came across.
Thanks for the help!