The European Parliament has approved the new European Commission lineup, with Kaja Kallas leading diplomacy and holding anti-Russian views.

The European Parliament has approved the new composition of the European Commission for the years 2024–2029.

This is reported on the institution's website.

The new European Commission will begin its duties next month. The diplomacy of the body during the second term of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will be led by the former Prime Minister of Estonia and the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, who is known for her anti-Russian stance.

A total of 370 parliamentarians voted in favor of the new composition of the Commission. Before the vote, von der Leyen delivered a speech outlining the intentions of the new team. She emphasized that Europe must play a stronger role in addressing the war in Ukraine, as well as issues in the Middle East and Africa.

The President noted that Europe needs to allocate more funds for defense. According to her, Russia spends 90% of its GDP on the defense industry, while EU countries spend, on average, no more than 2%.

“Let there be no doubt – we want Ukraine to be part of our European Union. So we will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes,” von der Leyen commented.

Background. Earlier, Mind reported that the Commission proposes to allocate 1 billion euros from frozen Russian assets for the development of Ukraine's defense industry. In total, the EU has already transferred 3 billion euros from these assets for Ukraine's defense needs.