Kallas vs Waltz: Politico calls Munich debate “biggest fight”

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz engaged in a heated debate at the Munich Security Conference, with Politico calling their exchange the event’s “biggest fight.”

Kallas addressed Washington’s approach to its allies, telling a US official that when America goes to war, many of its partners go along and lose people in the process.

"When, for example, Russia goes to war, they go alone because they don’t have allies; when America goes to wars, then, you know, a lot of us go with you, and we lose our people on the way,” she told Waltz as applause filled the room. “That means you also need us to be this superpower.”

The diplomats also clashed over Donald Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace” for Gaza, with Kallas sharply criticising it for having a lopsided power structure that treats countries unequally. “That is, I think, the difference [in] how we see the world,” the EU foreign policy chief said.

Politico identified the second-largest clash as the debate between Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski and Czech Deputy Prime Minister Petr Macinka. 

Macinka criticised the EU for lacking democratic accountability, claiming a disconnect between voters and Brussels institutions. Sikorski countered that the European Parliament is democratically elected, and commissioners are appointed by “democratically elected governments.”

By Jeyhun Aghazada