On Wednesday, a meeting was scheduled between EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, and US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. However, it was suddenly canceled due to “scheduling issues” amid rising political tensions between the US and the EU. This was reported by UNN with reference to the Associated Press.
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It is noted that individuals from both sides explained the impossibility of the meeting due to scheduling issues. Callas and Rubio last met at the Munich Security Conference in Germany last month.
However, European officials said that this situation came as a surprise to them, especially given that Callas had announced upcoming talks with Rubio only two days earlier.
In particular, on Monday, she said she would hold talks “on issues of interest to both of us,” and for the EU, this is primarily Russia's war against Ukraine and transatlantic relations.
Obviously, the statements coming out of the United States are of concern to all of us,
She expressed hope that relations between the EU and the US would continue to function.
So far, we have no indication that this will not happen. Of course, this will change, that is absolutely clear. But we should not throw out the window what has worked well so far,
At the same time, a senior U.S. official said that the planned meeting, which was never listed on Rubio's public schedule, was canceled due to an “unavoidable scheduling conflict.
The cancellation came less than a week after the State Department's policy planning division sent out an internal memo instructing officials working with Europe to highlight two specific issues in their interactions with European counterparts. The memo, dated February 21 and seen by the Associated Press, also mentioned preliminary plans for Rubio's upcoming meeting with Kallas,
The memorandum outlined two issues of concern: “Freedom of speech and free opposition” and ‘Migration’.
In the first case, the memorandum states that Rubio and other American diplomats should emphasize the importance that the Trump administration attaches to freedom of speech in their discussions with European officials.
As the newspaper notes, with regard to migration, the memorandum says that American officials, including Rubio, should call Europe's “de facto open borders policy” a “disaster” that must stop.