Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has called on European Union member states to give Brussels a mandate to negotiate with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine. He made the remarks in an interview with the Belgian daily L’Echo.
According to De Wever, neither military aid to Ukraine nor economic sanctions have so far succeeded in forcing Moscow to change course.
‘Since we are unable to intimidate Vladimir Putin with arms shipments to Ukraine and cannot economically strangle him without US support, we are left with only one option: to reach an agreement,’ he said.
EU should have a seat at the negotiating table
The Belgian prime minister also emphasised that Russia could only be placed under significant pressure with the full backing of the United States. ‘Bringing Russia to its knees would only be possible with 100 per cent support from the US,’ he said.
De Wever suggested, however, that Washington may not be unequivocally on Ukraine’s side. In his words, it sometimes seems that the United States is closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin than to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Belgian prime minister warned that without a mandate to negotiate with Moscow, the European Union could be left out of any potential peace talks.
‘Without a mandate to negotiate with Moscow, we won’t be at the negotiating table where the Americans could pressure Ukraine to accept an agreement,’ he said.
At the same time, he noted that, in his view, such an agreement would likely not be advantageous for Europe. ‘I can already say that this will be a bad deal for us,’ he added.
European leaders renew contact with Putin
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and the war has continued since then despite repeated diplomatic efforts to end it.
Several European leaders have resumed diplomatic contacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among them are Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas also commented on the question of potential negotiations with Moscow. According to her, member states should first agree on exactly what they expect from Russia. Only then should the European Union proceed to direct negotiations with the Kremlin.
Kallas said last month that Europe should formulate so-called maximalist demands and pressure Russia to make concessions. Among them, she mentioned, for example, reducing the number of Russian armed forces personnel.
(l'echo, euractiv, mja)