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French President Nicolas Sarkozy (picture) helped broker a cease-fire agreement between Russia and Georgia, in which Russia agreed to withdraw all its troops to their pre-war positions by 22 August.
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BRUSSELS (EJP)---The French European Union presidency has called for an extraordinary crisis summit in Brussels on 1 September to review the EU relationship with Moscow after the crisis in Georgia revived East-West tensions.
In a statement released on Sunday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who chairs the EU Council, said the meeting would be devoted to "the course of action that the European Union intends to take in terms of aid to Georgia and its future relations with Russia".
The meeting was convened "at the request of several EU member states," the statement added.
Poland and the Baltic states in particular were among the EU countries most critical of Russia's invasion of parts of Georgia on 7-8 August in response to an offensive by the Georgian military against South Ossetia, a separatist province at the Russian border with close ties to Moscow.
But EU member states appeared to be divided between those who called for a tough stance against Moscow and the others who think that any punitive action against Russia would be counter-productive.
President Sarkozy helped broker a cease-fire agreement between Russia and Georgia, in which Russia agreed to withdraw all its troops to their pre-war positions by 22 August.
Last week, after a conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the French President said Russia would face “serious consequences” if the troops weren’t withdrawn as per the six-point agreement.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned that Russia could face a deterioration of its relations with Europe, Moscow’s largest trading partner.
A majority of members of the European Parliament, in particular those from eastern European countries, gave last week strong backing to Georgia’s Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili during her visit to Brussels.
They called for full solidarity with Georgia, a strong stance towards Russia and a positive response to demand to send a EU peacekeeping force in South Ossetia.
A few MEPs took a more balanced approach, recalling that notwithstanding the “disproportionate” Russian response, the initial attack was launched by Georgia against South Ossetia.
Russia has announced a freezing of all contacts with NATO in response to the alliance’s decision to suspend political talks with Moscow made at a meeting of foreign ministers last week in Brussels.
