EU's Kallas Leads European Defence and Ukraine Security Debate at Lennart Meri Conference in Tallinn

EU High Representative and Vice President Kaja Kallas attended the Lennart Meri Conference (May 15–17) in Tallinn, Estonia — Europe's most influential annual security policy forum, held in the homeland of the EU's top diplomat. Kallas outlined the EU's approach to the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP), its €1.5 billion work programme launched in March, and stressed the bloc's continued commitment to Ukraine's security irrespective of US policy shifts. EU and NATO defence ministers also held parallel discussions during the week on the scale and mechanisms of continued military support to Kyiv. The conference brought together Nordic-Baltic security voices, European Commission officials, and transatlantic analysts at a moment when EU strategic autonomy and NATO burden-sharing are under simultaneous pressure from the Russia-Ukraine war and Trump-era US reliability concerns.