EU foreign minister says 'no' to European leader who demanded Russian 'access to cheap energy'
The head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, rejected on Tuesday the call of the Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever that the EU bloc normalizes its relations with Moscow in order to regain access to cheap Russian energy, reports Reuters.
The Belgian prime minister's position is contrary to the radical approach against Moscow desired by Brussels and most of the European leaders who support Ukraine in the war with Russia, although this approach penalizes the European economy.
The EU economy needs low-cost energy to keep its industries competitive against rivals in China and the US, where energy costs are several times lower.
According to this approach, the EU has already decided to stop gas imports from Russia from next year, after in the period since the start of the war in Ukraine it adopted a policy of reducing Russian gas imports, largely replaced by more expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported especially from the USA, notes Agerpres.
Belgian PM calls for 'access to cheap energy'
In an interview with the Belgian publication L'Echo, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever estimated that the time had come “to normalize relations with Russia and to recover access to cheap energy”.
He also said that there are European leaders who, behind closed doors, have expressed their agreement with this position, but “no one dares to say it out loud”.
Kallas: “I didn't notice this interest”
However, the head of EU diplomacy, Estonian Kaja Kallas, said in an interview with Reuters that she does not have the same impression and warned against any attempt to return to the old relations with Russia. “I was (…) behind those closed doors, if we're talking about leaders' meetings, and I didn't see that interest,” she noted.
“When we talk to Russia, of course, the most important thing is that we first agree on what we want to talk about with them,” added Kaja Kallas, the former head of the Estonian government and who is on the Russian authorities' wanted list after she advocated the most radical measures against Russia in that role and in her current role as EU foreign policy chief.
“If we go back to the old relations (with Russia, no), we will have more of these – more wars. We have seen this before, so we must be very vigilant and not give Russia what it wants, as their appetite will only grow,” the head of European diplomacy pointed out.
