The mayor of a neighboring French village told La Voix du Nord “we should be able to avoid a new border war,” BBC News reports.
France and Belgium share a 390-mile border, which was established under a 1820 treaty signed after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo five years earlier.
The stones were placed when the border was first decided in 1819.
Belgian authorities plan on simply contacting the farmer and asking him to return the stone – but if he doesn’t, the Belgian foreign ministry could open a Franco-Belgian border commission, something that hasn’t happened since 1930, according to BBC News. The farmer could also face criminal charges if he doesn’t comply.
“If he shows good will, he won’t have a problem, we will settle this issue amicably,” Lavaux told Belgian news website Sudinfo.
