Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said on Monday there was “no appetite” to extend the mandate of the EU’s naval mission Aspides into the Strait of Hormuz despite growing calls for Europe to help secure the waterway and prevent major disruptions to global oil supplies.
“The discussion was that it (Aspides) should be strengthened because it does not have too many naval assets," Kallas told reporters at a press conference following a gathering of foreign ministers in Brussels. “But the discussion on whether we are also extending this mandate to cover the strait of Hormuz (...) there was no appetite from the member states to do that.”
