The EU must prove that it is capable of acting precisely in the Ukrainian issue

 

 The situation in Eastern Europe has not been so tense for a long time, writes the Austrian Der Standard. Russia has been challenging Ukraine for weeks by deploying troops near its border, the newspaper said. Kiev is also responding with an accumulation of weapons, and as a result of what could at best be called a frozen conflict, it now threatens to escalate into a hot war.

At the same time, both sides feel the threat. Ukraine, because after the loss of the Crimean peninsula, it fears "falling victim to Russian territorial claims again", Russia - because it sees itself as a target of "American aggression" and considers Kiev's stubborn ambitions to join NATO as an attack, the newspaper explains.

 In this delicate situation, the European Union can not afford the luxury of watching from afar and from time to time to make more or less outraged comments, writes Der Standard. As a common foreign policy, as is well known and as practice has shown, exists mainly on paper, the EU has few options. You can put pressure with the help of economic sanctions. It is true that, according to Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schalenberg, this is a "relatively dumb weapon". But only relatively, emphasizes the author of the article.

 That is why it is particularly important that the G7 countries - and this, together with the EU partners (Germany, France, Italy), above all the US and the UK - have agreed to quickly activate a serious sanctions mechanism. This happened just before the start of the last EU summit for the year, which begins on Thursday. As a result, the Heads of State and Government of the 27 EU countries will be able to demonstrate unity and take a clear position.

However, political and diplomatic work must continue in the Normandy format - "this semi-official contact group between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany", which was established in 2014, the newspaper explains. However, according to the journalist of Der Standard, two factors have emerged that finally promise a move on this issue.

 First, Germany is now represented by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He may not have experience in this particular matter, but it may still be useful for Moscow to know his position, which may differ from that of Germany in the Merkel era. Secondly, Emmanuel Macron is also feeling new opportunities: he is just starting his campaign for re-election as President of France and is therefore interested in presenting himself as strong and capable of solving problems. Presenting France as a strong country in order to distract the population from internal problems is not a new endeavor.