Having called today's special European Council out of sheer frustration over Russia's failure to implement the six point ceasefire he brokered between Russia and Georgia, President Nicholas Sarkozy of France saw its agenda broaden last week after Moscow recognised South Ossetia and Abkhasia as independent states.
The European Union confronts a newly assertive Russia divided on how to respond and acutely aware of how dependent EU members are on its oil and gas. While talk of a new cold war is overblown they face a choice between a complete reappraisal of relations with Russia and testing its goodwill much more rigorously in forthcoming negotiations.
The United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland and the three Baltic states form one bloc demanding a much tougher approach to Russia, including sanctions. They regard the Georgian events as a tipping point setting dangerous precedents elsewhere, including in Moldovan Transdniestria and the Crimea Russia. They argue Russia is making a central point about control of its former "near abroad" and is in no mood for conciliatory gestures. Psychologically and politically it must be stood up to and faced down if former Warsaw Pact members and Soviet republics are not to be threatened once again.
France, Germany, Italy and Spain take a rather different view, partly because they depend more on Russian energy resources. Their case stresses economic interdependence and mutual interests, regards Russia more as a regional power than a worldwide one, and they are still keen to test Moscow's commitment to reach a broader understanding with the EU on political, economic and security issues. They are much more sceptical about the wisdom of a rapid Nato expansion towards Georgia and Ukraine for fear of provoking Russia, as has been urged by neoconservatives in the Bush administration. But last week's events have rattled several of these assumptions.
This is a highly serious issue requiring deep analysis and mature judgment. Such divisions of opinion are not surprising, given the different exposure to Russian power and influence. Similar arguments were heard about the wisdom of opening talks - scheduled for September 16 - on a new EU-Russian agreement to replace the 1997 one which has now run out. That meeting could be postponed today but it would not be wise to cancel it. One reason why Russian leaders have acted as they did was out of frustration over the western delay in taking their recovery from humiliation in the 1990s seriously and suspicion that a new containment policy is being created against them. Had the EU-Russian talks been started earlier and with more imagination and empathy, some of the present tension could have been mitigated.
The EU has a potentially constructive role to play in this crisis, but its own role should be clearly distinguished from that of Nato. Russian leaders should be told firmly that such power plays are dangerously destabilising. But the search for a more comprehensive EU-Russia agreement should continue. That is the best test of Russia's goodwill.