Kallas on Hegseth’s statement on EU defense spending: "Tough love is better than none"
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas responded positively to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s statements on the need to increase Europe’s defense spending.
This is reported by Politico with reference to Kallas' speech at a defense forum in Singapore, Censor.NET reports.
"Tough love is better than no love," she said, commenting on Hughes's speech, which emphasized the need for European allies to take greater responsibility for their own security. "He was pretty positive about Europe, so there's definitely some love there," Kallas added.
Speaking at the forum, Hegseth called on European countries to increase defense investments and called Poland and the Baltic states "model allies." "Thanks to President Trump, they are stepping up," he said.
Kallas agreed that Europe needs to rethink its security role. "Some of us have long realized that we need to invest in defense," she said. Kallas also emphasized that the EU has stopped seeing itself as a peace project and has begun to see the need to strengthen defense.
As a reminder, this week European countries approved a €150 billion military spending package. At the same time, EU Commissioner for Defense Andrius Kubilius warned that Europe will have to gradually assume more responsibility in security matters, as the United States will increasingly focus on its own priorities.
