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September 17, 2009

Europe Must Get Tough with Georgia

Nino Burjanadze, European Voice

AP Photo

If, in 2008, saving Georgia seemed to be the great success of Europe's foreign policy, in the year ahead this country will provide a test of how serious Europe's collective strength in international affairs really is.

Last August the swift action of Europe's president, France's Nicolas Sarkozy, prevented the disaster of war in South Ossetia from becoming a tragedy on a continental scale. Through personal commitment and effort, he got the Russians to pull back from the brink.

But, in reality, the ceasefire agreed has only frozen the conflict. It was a sticking plaster, not a solution. As an immediate priority the EU needs to insist that the Russians honour the commitments they made last year "“ anything else will be and is being seen as weakness by the...

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TAGGED: Europe, Nicolas Sarkozy, Georgia, France, President

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