BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is softening a push to take greater control of EU intelligence sharing after a standoff with her foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas, four officials with knowledge of the discussion told POLITICO.

The EU executive said in November it wanted to set up an internal cell to collect intelligence from across Europe, overseen by the president herself, as part of an effort to protect the bloc from Russian digital attacks and sabotage. But the plan triggered a backlash from European capitals and the EU’s diplomatic service, which has its own center for Europe-wide intel sharing.

The Commission is now scaling back its ambitions for the intelligence cell, according to the officials, who include two EU officials and two EU diplomats. The cell will likely become a security unit and will leave much of the intelligence sharing to the INTCEN center of the European External Action Service (EEAS), two of the officials said.

The move would see Kallas retain greater control over intelligence. The Estonian top diplomat, who heads the EEAS, repeatedly clashed with the EU executive president last year, including when she attempted to hire Martin Selmayr, the former head of cabinet of von der Leyen’s predecessor Jean-Claude Juncker, for a top job. The recruitment initiative stirred unease in the Commission under von der Leyen, who has tried to centralize power under the EU executive.

Europe aims to boost information sharing among national spy agencies as relations with Washington over intelligence sharing deteriorate and Europe scrambles to strike back against hybrid attacks by Russia, from disinformation campaigns to hacks and sabotage.

Intelligence and security officials gather in Germany later this week for the Munich Security Conference, where transatlantic ties and the war on Europe’s eastern border are expected to top the agenda.

The European Union has been trying to scale up intelligence sharing in past years, but national governments have competence over national security and are wary to grant the EU much control over sensitive and classified information.

The INTCEN directorate has built up credibility with some national capitals in the past year. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz backed the division in January, when they said the “hybrid fusion cell” housed within INTCEN should be better supported to fight hybrid threats.

The directorate, which is in charge of handling civilian intelligence and reports to Kallas, has briefed the weekly College meeting of commissioners and the Foreign Affairs Council of foreign ministers in past months.

While von der Leyen never officially presented a plan for the “dedicated cell” or provided a staff count, the Commission said it would “play a key role in the preparation of the Security College.”

“There is no point in having another cell,” said the first EU diplomat who, like the other officials and diplomats consulted for this story, asked to remain anonymous given the sensitivity of the matter. “Even at the level of INTCEN there is not much sharing yet. It is better, but there is no need for the creation of another cell.”

In a response to POLITICO, a Commission official, granted anonymity because they were not allowed to speak on the record, said that in a “challenging geopolitical and geo-economic landscape” INTCEN was looking at how to strengthen its security and intelligence capabilities. The official added that the cell would complement the work of the Security Directorate within the Commission and would “closely cooperate with respective services of EEAS.”

The second EU diplomat was supportive of the Commission’s plan to create the cell, arguing that the initiative would help improve decision making because it would allow a handful officials to interpret and use intel, a cumbersome process among 27 member countries.

Kallas herself was critical of the idea of a Commission intelligence cell in November: “Having been a prime minister of a country, I know that all the member states are struggling with the budget, and asking that we should do something in addition to the things that we have already is not a wise idea,” she told the European Parliament.

This article has been updated.