Ukraine's hopes of becoming a candidate for E.U. membership, which had increased amid the conflict in Georgia, are likely to be deflated at an E.U.-Ukraine summit next week, European diplomats said Wednesday.
France, which holds the E.U.'s rotating presidency, recently warmed to Ukraine's candidacy, and Ukraine had hoped that Russia's intervention in Georgia had tipped the scales in its favor.
However, after talks by ambassadors of the 27 E.U. nations Wednesday, a draft declaration prepared for an E.U.-Ukraine summit in Evian, France, Sept. 9 tells another story, according to diplomats close to the issue.
On the plus side, the E.U. members agree that the partnership agreement currently being negotiated with Ukraine should be called an "Association Agreement" -- the term used for similar pacts with Balkan nations which have a recognized future within the E.U..
However, the draft summit declaration makes no mention of the key "European perspective" for Ukraine, which Ukraine had been hoping for, and which is familiar eurospeak for an eventual goal of E.U. membership.
The E.U. has been divided over whether the former Soviet state should be allowed to enter, perhaps even more divided than it is over strife-torn Georgia.
Poland and the Baltic countries, as well as Sweden and the U.K., have always insisted that Ukraine is a European nation and therefore deserves a place at the table.
But the nations of "Old Europe," led by Germany, are opposed, amid concerns about continued enlargement, and also about irritating Russia, which has flexed its energy and political muscles, along with its military muscles.
Ukraine had hoped that Russia's military intervention in Georgia would work in its favor, as fears of grow of a resurgent Russia seeking renewed influence in former Soviet republics.
However, in the draft statement - drawn up for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko and E.U. Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso to approve - the E.U. simply acknowledges "the European aspirations of Ukraine" rather than sharing them, and "leaves open the way for further progressive developments in E.U.-Ukraine relations".
If the Georgian conflict has had any impact on Europe's attitude to Ukraine, it is "in the fact that we have held to our pre-summer position," said one diplomat.
One consolation for Kiev is that the Europeans are prepared to discuss conditions for an eventual visa-free travel deal with Ukraine.
However, even this falls well short of a commitment amid E.U. fears of a new illegal immigration problem.