EU: Pöttering shakes his fist

The President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, has strenuously denied that the EU is powerless to act against the Russian intervention in Georgia. In an interview with an Italian newspaper, he insisted that Europe was strong and united. As an example, he cited the fact that the European extraordinary summit meeting in Brussels – as if a meeting were enough to undo a military act. In spite of all of his bluster and insistence on the need for Russia to respect international law, therefore, it is obvious that the EU will in fact do nothing. Indeed, its own position is of course weakened by the fact that most EU states have themselves recognised the unilateral proclamation of independence by Kosovo, while the EU as such has set up an administration in Kosovo (EULEX) whose status is nowhere to be found in the relevant UN resolutions which of course put the territory under UN (not EU) administration.

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