EU freezes talks with Russia at summit

Speaking after the summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "Everyone has acted in the spirit of responsibility. No one has lived out their most extreme positions. There was a clear commitment to come out with a common position. All of us knew what was at stake." Sanctions against Russia never played a role in the talks, Merkel added.

She also made clear that freezing the talks over a new partnership agreement was only linked to point five of the truce agreement struck by Sarkozy, which calls for the complete withdrawal of Russian forces from the Georgian "heartland".

With regard to sending an EU observatory mission to Georgia, Merkel was sceptical that this could be done as quickly, speaking in favour of a continuation of the current OSCE mission. 

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi adopted a conciliatory tone, defending the reaction by Moscow. "We managed to avoid the use of the word disproportionate [in the summit conclusions]," Berlusconi told journalists after the summit. He added that he wondered what would have been a proportionate reaction to "the killing of 80 Russian peacekeeping soldiers". He went further, saying the EU had to "respect Russian sensibility on some issues" and stressed that Russia provided "several guarantees that they will withdraw their troops".

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski described the summit as "a Polish success", while Prime Minister Donald Tusk praised the personal contribution of President Lech Kaczynski for introducing significant changes to the conclusions drafted by the French. According to Kaczynski, those changes included a mention of energy policy in the conclusions and the fact that the upcoming EU-Ukraine summit in Evian on 9 September will gather European leaders and not only the EU Troika. 

Kaczynski also hailed Poland's influence on linking the start of negotiations on a new EU-Russia basic treaty to Russia's full implementation of the peace plan. "We were not alone – we were acting within a group of countries bigger than the Baltic States and Poland. I would also mention the Czech Republic, Sweden and the UK," Kaczynski said.

Tusk was more direct in criticising the French draft conclusions. "With the mutual effort of other countries we have been able to push away the threat of having a Conclusion document which does not give us anything, and there are politicians in Europe who would rather have conclusions which do not manifest anything," Tusk said. 

Asked by EurActiv if Poland was now more in favour of the Lisbon Treaty, Kaczynski said that indeed, several EU leaders had mentioned informally that the Lisbon Treaty would have given the EU better instruments to deal with the Georgian crisis.

"The situation we are facing today is the following: Ireland has to hold a new referendum, but when – I don't know that," Kaczynski said.

Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili praised the EU and the US for their reaction to the crisis. "I could have never imagined that we would ever have such support from Germany or France. I could have never imagined that the freedom of Georgia would ever become such a big issue in the United States," he said during a gathering on 1 September in Tbilisi, considered to be the largest since the 'Rose Revolution' in 2003. 

"I expect that Europe will support the territorial integrity of Georgia and will say that they will never recognise the results of this illegality […] We consider ourselves Europeans," said Saakashvili.

Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev laid out what he said would become his government's guiding principles on foreign policy after the conflict with Georgia: a policy which notably includes a claim to a "privileged" sphere of influence in the world.

Speaking to Russian television in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on 31 August, Medvedev said his government would adhere to five principles. Russia, he said, would observe international law. It would reject what he called US dominance of world affairs in a "unipolar" world. It would seek friendly relations with other nations. It would defend Russian citizens and business interests abroad. And it would claim a sphere of influence in the world.

Talking to journalists after the summit, the Russian Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov downplayed the EU's decision to delay talks on a new bilateral partnership agreement: "We don't need these talks or this new agreement any more than the EU does," Chizhov said, according to AFP. 

He described the decision as "more of a self punishment for the European Union" as it "missed a good opportunity to promote its strategic partnership with Russia by expressing solidarity (with Moscow) rather than supporting the aggressor which is in this case certainly Georgia."

Speaking in Parliament after the summit, Joseph Daul, the chairman of the centre-right EPP-ED Group, stressed that the crisis highlighted the need for the EU to diversify its energy supplies. He also called for the establishment of a European defence policy to be prioritised, stressing that the Lisbon Treaty would help on this point.