European Union leaders agreed Thursday to harden their common stance towards Russia by saying its withdrawal from core Georgia was not a sufficient reason to re-open talks on a cooperation deal with Moscow, according to dpa. While welcoming the Russian pull-out from the areas adjacent to the separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, leaders meeting for a summit in Brussels insisted that this was only an "essential supplementary step" for the implementation of international peace accords. "All 27 EU member states welcome the withdrawals while recognizing that they do not completely finish Russia's commitment under the peace plan of August 12," said British Foreign Minister David Miliband. The insistence by Britain, Sweden and the Baltic nations that Russia needs to do more risks dashing the hopes of those politicians who want a quick re-start of talks on a key strategic deal with Russia. At an emergency summit held on September 1, EU leaders decided to freeze further talks on a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with Russia "until (its) troops have withdrawn to positions they held prior to August 7," when the war broke out. Since then, EU nations have split between those who argue that Russia's withdrawal from core Georgia is enough to re-start PCA talks, and those who say Russia would also have to scale down its strengthened presence in the two separatist enclaves. On Thursday, EU leaders effectively delayed any decision until the European Commission presents a "full in-depth evaluation of EU-Russia relations," to be discussed by EU foreign ministers on November 10.
