By Andrew Gray
BRUSSELS, March 17 (Reuters) – European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas pushed back on Tuesday against a call by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever to normalise relations with Moscow and regain access to cheap Russian energy.
De Wever’s comments, in an interview with Belgian newspaper L’Echo, run counter to official EU policies to maintain a hard line against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine and phase out the use of Russian fossil fuels.
De Wever also said European leaders agreed with him behind closed doors but “no one dares to say it out loud”.
Kallas, however, told Reuters in an interview in Brussels that she did not have the same impression and warned against trying to go back to business as usual with Moscow.
“I’ve been … behind those closed doors, when we talk about leaders’ meetings, and I don’t see this appetite,” said Kallas, who attends gatherings of the European Council of EU heads of state and government.
“When we talk to Russia, of course, the most important thing is to first agree what we want to talk to them about,” added Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia.
“If we just go back to business as usual, we will have more of this – more wars. We have seen this before, so we have to be very vigilant and not to actually give Russia what they want because their appetite will only grow.”
Global oil prices have surged roughly 40% since the U.S. and Israel began their war on Iran, climbing to their highest since 2022.
De Wever’s comments, which were published at the weekend, sparked criticism within his ruling coalition. He has since sought to play them down, saying he favours normalising relations only after a deal is struck to end the war in Ukraine.
(Reporting by Andrew Gray, writing by Bart Meijer and Andrew Gray, Editing by Dominique Vidalon and Hugh Lawson)
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