The EU’s foreign and security policy chief, Kaja Kallas, arrived in Amman on 22 June 2026 and met Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ayman Safadi. Hours later, on her verified Instagram account, she called Jordan “one of the EU’s closest and most trusted partners in the Middle East.” The visit sat on top of a track that was already moving.
The two had spoken about the US-Iran peace talks and how the current truce can be turned into a more lasting peace. Jordan, on a list of friendly capitals for both Washington and Tehran, sits at the crossroads of the regional de-escalation the EU wants to support. The first EU-Jordan Security and Defence Dialogue had already met in Amman on 4 February 2026, and Kallas’s courtesy stop looked like the second visit in a single diplomatic arc, not the first move of a new one.
The Visit, in One Frame
Reuters Connect captioned the bilateral at Amman on 22 June 2026. Safadi is Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates. The High Representative, on the second day of her regional visit, met him to coordinate on the Gaza ceasefire and the US-Iran truce.
Her post on Instagram, carried by Ammon News, was the public anchor of the visit. She wrote that she had spoken with Safadi about the US-Iran peace talks and how the current truce can be turned into a more lasting peace, per the Instagram post Kallas made on 22 June 2026.
The Jordanian side’s readout, published the same morning, focused on regional coordination. Both sides framed the meeting as part of an ongoing partnership, not a one-off consultation. The use of the word “pillar” by the EU official marked an upgrade from earlier language about a “key” partner.
Jordan is a pillar of stability and one of the EU’s closest and most trusted partners in the Middle East. With Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, I spoke about the US-Iran peace talks and how the current truce can be turned into a more lasting peace.
Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, in a post on her verified Instagram account on 22 June 2026, as reported by Ammon News.
The Security and Defence Dialogue Has Already Started
On 4 February 2026, the first Security and Defence Dialogue took place in Amman. It was co-chaired by Charles Fries, Deputy Secretary General for Peace, Security and Defence at the European External Action Service, and Daifallah Al-Fayez, Secretary-General of Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, per the joint EU press release on the first dialogue.
Jordan is the first Middle Eastern country the EU has formally linked to its security instruments through such a track. The dialogue runs on a regular basis, alternating between Amman and Brussels. The visit by Kallas in June is the visible layer; the dialogue is the load-bearing one.
Four work strands were agreed at the first meeting:
- Training of Palestinian Civil Police officers for deployment to Gaza, under the US-led Comprehensive Plan and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 of 17 November 2025.
- Maritime security in the Red Sea and the upholding of international maritime law.
- Counter-terrorism, including the prevention of radicalisation and violent extremism, and cooperation in multilateral fora.
- EU substantial support to the Jordanian Armed Forces through the European Peace Facility.
Joining the Common Security and Defence Policy and the European Peace Facility means accepting European standards, transparency, and external review on parts of Jordan’s security policy. The analysis published by Tomorrow’s Affairs frames the trade-off as the price of institutional partnership. The EU and Jordan reaffirmed their willingness to cooperate for long-term stability, peace, security, and a multilateral order grounded in international law, per the EEAS release.
The €3 Billion Backbone of the Partnership
The financial architecture of the relationship was set at the 8 January 2026 EU-Jordan Summit in Amman. The summit marked the first anniversary of the EU-Jordan Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership, signed on 29 January 2025 in Brussels, per the joint statement of the 8 January 2026 EU-Jordan Summit.
Under the package, €3 billion in EU financial and investment support is earmarked for 2025-2027. Two Macro-Financial Assistance tranches of €500 million each, one adopted in September 2025 and one planned for 2026, sit inside that envelope. The breakdown by stream is laid out below.
Security is one of five pillars of the partnership, alongside political relations and regional cooperation, economic resilience, trade and investment, human capital, and migration. EU Council documents name border management, combating smuggling, human trafficking, and organised crime as the operational focus areas for the security track, per the Tomorrow’s Affairs analysis.
| Funding stream | Amount | Timing / source |
|---|---|---|
| Grants | €640 million | 2025-2027 package, per IEU monitoring |
| Additional investments | ~€1.4 billion | 2025-2027 package, per IEU monitoring |
| Concessional loans (MFA) | €1 billion | 2025-2027 package, per IEU monitoring |
| Macro-Financial Assistance (adopted) | €500 million | September 2025, per IEU monitoring |
| Macro-Financial Assistance (planned) | €500 million | 2026, per IEU monitoring |
Gaza, the Truce, and Why the Timing Mattered
Kallas’s Instagram post named the US-Iran truce specifically. Per the Times of Israel live blog on 22 June 2026, the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran declared a ceasefire; Israel was not a party to it.
The Gaza track had been opened inside the Security and Defence Dialogue before the June visit. UNSCR 2803 of 17 November 2025 is the legal backbone. The EU and Jordan agreed to step up training of Palestinian Civil Police for deployment to Gaza under the US-led Comprehensive Plan, per the EEAS release. King Abdullah II had pressed the same line with Kallas at Basman Palace on 7 December 2025, per the 7 December 2025 readout of the King-Kallas meeting. The two-state solution is the only path to a just, lasting, and comprehensive resolution of the conflict, the joint statement of the 8 January 2026 summit affirmed.
Brussels is also leaning on its wider neighbourhood. The EU’s energy push with Egypt in Luxembourg sits in the same week as Kallas’s Amman stop. The two tracks reflect the same priority: keep regional interlocutors on side while the Gaza ceasefire is renegotiated.
Jordan as Europe’s Border Buffer
Jordan is the largest host of Syrian refugees in the region, with around 500,000 Syrians still in the kingdom, per the United Nations. The EU has spent €4 billion on humanitarian aid and macro-financial support to help Jordan cope with the fallout of the Syrian war since 2011, per the analysis of the EU-Jordan summit’s wider stakes.
EU funding for Jordan has served a second purpose: limiting the number of refugees reaching Europe’s own borders, per the DW analysis.
More than 14% of people in Jordan are unemployed, a figure that is even higher among young people and women, per the DW analysis. The high-level EU-Jordan Investment Conference was scheduled for April 2026, intended to find projects in security, defence, education, and youth, per the IEU monitoring readout. EU sanctions on Israel’s Ben-Gvir failed in Luxembourg the same week, exposing how divided the bloc is on regional escalation. The migration logic is the same: a stable Jordan is cheaper for Europe than a destabilised one.
Jordan enters the European security framework as part of the system, not as an external interlocutor, per the Tomorrow’s Affairs analysis. The same analysis argues the model, if it proves viable, will probably be extended to other partners in the immediate European neighbourhood.
- €4 billion: EU humanitarian and macro-financial support to Jordan since 2011
- around 500,000: Syrian refugees hosted by Jordan, per UNHCR figures cited by DW
- more than 14%: unemployment rate in Jordan
- 8 January 2026: first EU-Jordan Summit in Amman
- 4 February 2026: first EU-Jordan Security and Defence Dialogue in Amman
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the EU-Jordan Security and Defence Dialogue begin?
The first session opened in Amman on 4 February 2026, co-chaired by Charles Fries of the EEAS and Daifallah Al-Fayez of Jordan’s foreign ministry. The arrangement is set to continue on a regular basis, alternating between Amman and Brussels.
What is the European Peace Facility, and how does it connect to Jordan?
The European Peace Facility is an EU fund that finances security support to partner countries, including training, equipment, and institutional capacity building. The first EU-Jordan Security and Defence Dialogue named EPF support to the Jordanian Armed Forces as one of its four work strands.
How much has the EU committed to Jordan overall?
The current package, set at the 8 January 2026 summit, is worth €3 billion for 2025-2027. It builds on more than €4 billion in EU humanitarian and macro-financial support to Jordan since 2011.
Who co-chaired the first Security and Defence Dialogue?
The session in Amman was co-led by the EEAS Deputy Secretary General for Peace, Security and Defence, Charles Fries, and the Secretary-General of Jordan’s foreign ministry, Daifallah Al-Fayez.
Why does the EU single out Jordan as a pillar of stability?
The bloc’s framing rests on three features: functional security structures under government control, a geographic position at a regional pressure point that includes the Red Sea coast, and a record of hosting large refugee populations without state collapse. The June visit put those features in writing again, after Kallas met King Abdullah in Amman in December 2025.
