EU foreign affairs council to tackle global aid void left by USAID

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas outlined the agenda for the Foreign Affairs Development Council meeting on May 26, highlighting the EU’s intent to address the consequences of the United States scaling back its global development aid.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Kallas acknowledged the limitations of the EU in fully compensating for the gap left by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), but stressed that the bloc will focus on its strategic priorities, Caliber.Az reports.

‘We are going to discuss the impacts of US aid withdrawal from the development aid and where we can come in. Of course we have strategic priorities. We can’t fill the void that the US is leaving behind totally but we are focusing on the priorities that we have,” she said in an address shared on X.

Today’s Foreign Affairs Council on Development will cover:

🔹 the impact of the U.S. scaling back development aid,
🔹 neighbourhood developments,
🔹 the upcoming EU–African Union Summit,
🔹 the next long-term EU budget,
🔹 and continued support for Ukraine.

My doorstep ↓ pic.twitter.com/BKWrFu2bcM

— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) May 26, 2025

This marks Kallas’s first time chairing the EU development ministers meeting. Ministers will also assess outcomes from the recent African Ministerial meeting and begin preparations for the upcoming EU–African Union Summit, which aims to produce “concrete deliverables” in areas of mutual interest.

Other items on the agenda include neighbourhood developments, long-term EU budget planning, and the bloc’s ongoing support for Ukraine.

By Sabina Mammadli