Germany: Press conference by High Representative / Vice President Kaja Kallas ahead of the meeting with the German Federal Minister for Defence, Mr Boris Pistorius

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Dear Boris, thank you for your warm welcome. It is always good to be here in Berlin.

I want to start by thanking Germany for its crucial leadership in European defence. No other country in Europe spends more on defence, and few contribute as broadly. In Lithuania, you are a powerful backbone of NATO's presence. In the air, German jets protect European skies. And at sea, your navy safeguards vital sea lanes and critical undersea infrastructure. Germany is also the biggest provider of military support to Ukraine. At this critical moment, this matters more than ever. 

There is now an intense diplomatic push for peace. President Trump is not alone to detest war. Ukrainians do. We all do. But as we see time and again, this push remains totally one sided. Every week, Russian bombs plunge Ukrainian cities into darkness. Destruction and death are Russia's answer to diplomacy. The bitter reality is that this war might carry on for a long time unless we collectively put more pressure on Russia to stop it.

Europe's policy is consistent: supporting Ukraine and raising the costs for Russia. On the EU side, we will loan €90 billion to Ukraine to fund state functions and defence for the next two years. We are also advancing the 20 sanctions package and aim to finalise it next month. Putin will only take negotiations seriously if we make him.  Today, we also spoke about European defence. We know that Russia's ambitions go beyond Ukraine. To keep our countries and people safe, Europe must further improve its defence readiness. Here, Germany also plays a key role as the lead nation for five priority capability areas, and I want to thank Minister Pistorius for this. Boosting European defence readiness is not about duplicating what NATO does, but it is about making Europe stronger within NATO. 

I also want to touch on the state of transatlantic relations, which has been much of a subject recently. The United States is an indispensable ally, but it is also clear that our relations are not as good as they used to be. In every Alliance, there are moments of open disagreement, but Europe will not junk 80 years of transatlantic relations. From Gaza to the fight against ISIS, to China's coercive economic practices, Europe and the US are stronger when we act together.  

Finally, also, a few words on Iran. The courage of Iranian people is humbling. The regime has a track record of brutally suppressing protests, and no one knows what the next days will bring. The heavy-handed and brutal response by the security forces is unacceptable and exposes a regime afraid of its own people. The EU already has sweeping sanctions in place on Iran: on those responsible for the human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation and Tehran's support for Russia's war. And we are discussing on putting additional sanctions.

Dear Boris, thank you for everything that Germany does to strengthen European security. In uncertain times, we know that we can count on you.

Thank you.  

Q&A 

Q. And on the Iran topic, Madam High Representative, Chancellor Merz said that it could be days or weeks until the regime in Tehran collapses. Would you agree? 

Nobody knows what the coming days and weeks will bring. It might go - like Assad’s regime fell - it was a surprise for everybody. Very often, these regimes are very, very resilient. Actually, we do not know. What we continue to do is that we support civil society, and we are also putting more sanctions on the ones who are using violence against the peaceful protesters to show that we are condemning these actions. But eventually, it has to be the Iranian people who then take the decisions. 

Q. Some analysts are speculating that the US Administration could seek to condition its continued support for Ukraine, for the support and security guarantees in Europe, on concessions in other strategic areas, including its demands that own Greenland, as the US President puts it. Do you see any risk of Ukraine support becoming a bargaining ship in negotiations over Greenland and/or broader security guarantees in Europe, and how worried are you about that possibility? 

On Ukraine, of course, we are discussing the security guarantees and, like we have been discussing in the Coalition of the Willing, that these security guarantees really have to be tangible, in how it works in practice. And that they are not withdrawn. Of course, we cannot speak on behalf of the US Administration, what decisions they are making. What I want to stress here is that, right now, the majority of support to Ukraine is coming from Europe, and, also, European countries have been discussing what are the security guarantees provided to Ukraine. We have not heard that they are made conditional. One condition there was if there is an attack on Russia. We were just discussing before, history is full of cases where Russians have instigated an attack, showing that it was Ukrainians or Finnish, or whatever. In history, you can find a lot of cases like that. That is why it has to be very clear that if we give security guarantees, whether it is Americans or Europeans, these are not just on paper, but they are tangible. 

Q. Ms Kallas a possible securing of peace, a cease fire in Ukraine? What is the commission discussing and what's your coordinating role? 

The problem is that we do not have ceasefire right now. There is nothing to monitor. But in the Coalition of the Willing, of course, we are preparing also on the European side what we can bring to the table. We already have the military mission -training Ukrainian soldiers, and we can extend that mandate also to do the training on Ukrainian soil. We also have the civilian mission to help Ukrainians to reform their defence forces and help with capacity building. Again, coming to the beginning of my answer, the problem is right now that there is no ceasefire, and unfortunately, no ceasefire in sight as well, because Russia clearly does not want peace. 

Q. On Iran, Chancellor Merz says that the regime is in its final days. How confident are you, if that is true, that what comes next will actually be better? And, also on Greenland, Donald Trump, seems fairly set on his ambition when it comes to Greenland at the moment. How far is Europe prepared to go to prevent the US from taking it over? 

On Iran, history is also full of examples where there has been toppling of regimes, but the question is: what comes after? Right now, like I said, it is not clear whether the regime is going to fall or not. It is clear that the protests are massive. It is also clear that the regime is brutally suppressing and killing people to really incite fear in societies, and this is how the regime operate. In order to fall, in the history you have examples that you need from inside the alternatives to have a functioning state. Like I said, that is why we are supporting civil society, as much as we can on our side. Regarding what we will do, regarding those ambitions - like you mentioned - regarding Greenland, I think it is not right to discuss this in the media. We have those discussions also, what are the tools in our hands and we have the discussions with the Member States, including Denmark, what is the situation? But definitely, we are not preparing in public. 

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/media/video/I-283101