Oh, can’t we be friends?

tauringhuang.

Sep 1st 2008 | BRUSSELS
From Economist.com

Europe’s leaders try to unite against Russia

Shutterstock
IF IN doubt, turn to a cliché for help. The French government declared on Monday September 1st that the European Union considers its relations with Russia to be at a “crossroads”, because of the crisis in Georgia. That warning—sounding bold, but rather empty of substance—captured the mood as 27 leaders arrived in Brussels for an emergency one-day summit devoted to the recent fighting in the Caucasus.

Such summits are rare: the last one was called in 2003 to debate the Iraq war. The host, President Nicolas Sarkozy, suggested that the very sight of so many leaders assembling to debate relations with Russia amounted to a strong signal.

The odd thing is, he might just be right. By the time the meeting ended, after four hours of closed door talks, the 27 EU leaders had united around a threat (albeit a mild one), to suspend talks about a new partnership agreement between Europe and Russia, until all Russian troops had withdrawn from “buffer zones” carved out of Georgia, and pulled back to positions they held before the start of fighting on August 7th.

The measure was accompanied by a deadline. Mr Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU until the end of this year, will now fly to Moscow on September 8th to discuss the troop pull-back and other measures needed for Russia to be in full compliance with a six-point ceasefire deal brokered by the French president and Russian counterpart, President Dmitry Medvedev.

True, there was a big element of smoke and mirrors to the deal. The EU wants a new partnership agreement more than the Russians. What is more, the same agreement has already been frozen twice before as a result of spats between Russia and Poland, and Russia and Lithuania, without relations grinding to a halt. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, also let that cat out of the bag that Russia had already privately agreed to pull the troops back to their August 7th positions, in a telephone call between the French and Russian presidents on Sunday.

But the deal still matters. The 27 countries of the EU reached unanimous agreement that Russia’s conduct in Georgia had crossed an invisible line, and that—in the words of one senior Eurocrat—European governments could not continue with “business as usual”. Seen that way, the exact nature of the threat issued to Russia mattered less than the fact that it was issued at all. The timing of the summit was also significant.

Less than 24 hours earlier, Mr Medvedev had issued a clear challenge to the rest of the world, setting out how Russia sees its own overseas interests, including its right to protect the “life and dignity” of Russian citizens wherever they are. Mr Medvedev added that Russia intended to pursue its interests in “privileged” corners of the world, either near its borders or in its historic sphere of influence.

It was not acceptable to return to such ideas as “spheres of influence”, Mr Sarkozy said, at the end of the summit. “Yalta is over,” he added, in a reference to the agreements after the second world war which saw Europe divided up between the victorious allies from the Western camp, and the Soviet Union.

Tough talk is still only talk, but it marks a step forwards for an EU. The first, draft summit conclusions circulated by France were weak to the point of parody. The EU was asked only to agree that it would be “vigilant” about Russia’s conduct between now and a planned meeting with Russian leaders in November. If Russia did not stick to its peace deal, this might lead to “decisions on the continuation of discussions on the future of relations”.

Disunity seemed likely, too. Poland, Britain, and the Baltic states arrived calling for concrete measures to punish against Russia. Many others, such as Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, arrived rejecting all talk of sanctions (melodramatically, Mr Berlusconi called Russia an energy-rich nuclear power which could kill everyone on earth “ten times over”).

There is no guarantee that Russia will buckle under the symbolic pressure being offered by the EU. The moment for sanctions might yet arrive, Mr Sarkozy conceded. If it does arrive, he argued, the EU would be all the more effective for having been united and moderate now. Time will tell about that. But for once the EU leaders have proved united in condemning an act of Russian aggression. That is new, and welcome.

*This article has been updated since publication.