Until a few months ago, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was a lead candidate in the race to replace Jens Stoltenberg as secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), but her reputation as a Russia hawk scuttled her chances.
Influential NATO member states, many from the European Union, agreed that with the war in Ukraine, it was no longer possible to keep the eastern members on the fringe in Brussels' hierarchy. However, there were concerns that handing the top security job to a Baltic leader was too strong a message for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Moreover, the possibility of a change in US leadership and calculations over who could best deal with Donald Trump should he win the November presidential election was also an issue.
Kallas took it on the chin and endorsed Mark Rutte as the next NATO boss. However, observers suspected her nonchalant exit was part of an agreement that paved the way for her to enter the office of the EU high representative for foreign policy.
Kallas, 47, was one of the first EU leaders to sound the alarm about Putin's expansionist designs, warning colleagues against falling into the "trap" of believing good trade relations with Moscow could avert the crisis that Europe later found itself in when Russia invaded Ukraine.
"Her nomination proves that now she represents the mainstream view in EU........