BRUSSELS, March 17 (Reuters) – Kaja Kallas, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, told Reuters on Tuesday there is no appetite among the bloc’s countries to return to business as usual with Russia as energy prices soar in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Kallas, who serves as the EU’s top diplomat, also said that the EU has started taking into account the unpredictability of the United States under President Donald Trump, and pointed towards diplomacy over military means to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.
Here are some highlights from the interview.
ON THE U.S.-ISRAEL WAR ON IRAN
“We had those discussions and the main concern of the European countries is that we were not consulted about starting this war; actually, the opposite. There were many Europeans who were trying to convince U.S. and Israel not to start this war.”
ON TRUMP’S CALL ON ALLIES TO SECURE HORMUZ
“I don’t think the door is closed. Like I said yesterday as well, for the time being, member states do not have an appetite to change the mandate of this operation, especially because the Red Sea is still important as well. So nobody is ready to put their people in harm’s way in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We have to find diplomatic ways to keep this open so that we don’t have a food crisis, fertilizers crisis, energy crisis in the world.”
ON EUROPE’S TIES TO THE U.S.
“We are allies with America, but we don’t really understand their moves recently.”
“We are willing to also invest in our relationship in the transatlantic partnership that has been under heavy strain. But it takes two to tango. Every relationship has two sides. So let’s look at things that we can do together. And if our participation is needed here and there, also we expect that we are consulted.”
ON THE UNPREDICTABILITY OF THE U.S.
“I think it is pretty clear after this one year that the word that we have to take into account is unpredictability. So we are now more calm because we are expecting the unpredictable things to happen all the time, and take it as it is, put some ice in our hats and be calm and stay focused.”
ON NORMALIZING EU RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA
“I don’t see this appetite. And when we talk to Russia, of course, the most important thing is to first agree on what we want to talk to them about. Because 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 actually give Russia what they want, because their appetite will only grow.”
(Reporting by Andrew GrayWriting by Gianluca Lo NostroEditing by Peter Graff)
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