“If we go back to business as usual, we’ll have more wars” — EU foreign policy chief rejects Belgian PM’s call to normalize ties with Russia

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas directly contradicted Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever's call to normalize relations with Russia and restore cheap energy imports, Reuters reported. Kallas said she saw no appetite for such moves among EU leaders — including behind closed doors — and warned that returning to business as usual with Moscow would produce more wars. De Wever's own foreign minister also rejected the framing, as did the EU's energy commissioner.

Kallas: "If we go back to business as usual, we will have more wars"

In a Reuters interview in Brussels on 17 March, Kallas pushed back on De Wever's claim that European leaders privately agreed with him. She told Reuters she had been in the same closed-door gatherings he referenced and reached a different conclusion.

 "I've been … behind those closed doors, when we talk about leaders' meetings, and I don't see this appetite," she said. 

Kallas — a former prime minister of Estonia who attends European Council summits — said any engagement with Russia must begin by establishing clear objectives. 

"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."

Explore further

“They don’t like the EU”: Europe’s top diplomat says Washington wants to divide Europe

De Wever's call — and the rapid walkback

De Wever's comments appeared in an interview with Belgian newspaper L'Echo published at the weekend, the FT reported. He argued that Europe's dual strategy of military support for Ukraine and economic pressure on Russia had become unworkable without full US backing. 

"Given that we are unable to pressure Putin by sending weapons to Ukraine, and cannot suffocate his economy without US support, only one method remains: making a deal," he said, adding that European leaders privately agreed with him but "no one dares to say it out loud."

The remarks drew immediate criticism inside his own ruling coalition. By Monday evening, De Wever moved to soften them, telling reporters he was "not defending a different line than my government" and clarifying he had allegedly been describing a hypothetical scenario after a peace agreement acceptable to both Ukraine and Europe — not a current policy proposal.

Explore further

Trump administration relaxed Russian oil sanctions. Senators say that was Moscow’s gain.

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot, of the francophone party Les Engagés, rejected the normalisation framing directly. 

"Dialogue is not the same as normalisation. And that is a crucial distinction," he said, noting that Russia currently "refuses a European presence at the table" and "maintains maximalist demands." 

Prévot added that Belgium's "support for Ukraine remains unchanged."

De Wever has previously clashed with EU policy on Ukraine: last year, he blocked a Berlin-backed European Commission plan to use Russian sovereign assets frozen in Belgium to fund a loan to Kyiv, the FT noted.