Turkey should worry. It is clear that in many countries, particularly in Central Europe, there is far more support for embracing Ukraine than for accepting Turkey into the club.

That has given European diplomats — particularly British ones — a nasty dilemma. They don’t want to do anything to undermine the man who has startled the world by his election as Ukraine’s new leader, under the banner of dragging it closer to the West. But they do not want to imply that the gates to the European Union are now wide open. Nor, in Britain’s case, do they want to undermine the cause of Turkey’s membership.

It is the romance of Yushchenko’s shock victory that has injected bitterness into the problem. First, there was Moscow’s blunt endorsement of his rival, Viktor Yanukovich. Then there was the passion of Yushchenko’s supporters, camped for days and nights on the freezing streets of Kiev to protest against corruption and fraud in the first election, which gave Yanukovych victory.

Then, the rerun, determining that a majority of Ukrainians held the view that their best hope was with Yushchenko, facing the West not the East.

Finally, there was Yushchenko’s doctors’ determination that there had, indeed, been an attempt to poison him with dioxins, that had disfigured him with boils and blotches just months before the polls.

Poland, with historic ties to the west of Ukraine, has been loudest in calling for the EU to welcome it warmly into the Union. But Ukraine has many supporters among the Central and Eastern European members, keen to see it brought into the club, to push the border more firmly up against Russia.

This is something of an embarrassment in Brussels. Whether Ukraine should be allowed to set foot on the path that leads to membership is a question diplomats try hard to avoid.

For Britain, one of the warmest advocates of Turkey’s membership, it poses a particularly acute problem of etiquette. Above all, the Government does not want Turkey’s candidacy jeopardised. Even though Turkey has now been given the go-ahead to start accession talks, the debate only revealed the depth of opposition in parts of Europe.

The governing party in Belgium yesterday withdrew its support for holding a referendum on the European constitution, precisely because it believes that this would become a vote on Turkey’s membership.

The threat to Turkey’s hopes from Ukraine’s ambitions is not explicit. But there is a feeling in many capitals of the older EU members that a “period of digestion” is needed to absorb new countries. Even so, voters may suddenly come to the conclusion that the club is “full up”.

They might begin jibbing at the expense. Or they might reject the implications for immigration, a point that British politicians appreciate very well.

At the same time, Britain does not want to be seen to undermine Yushchenko’s heroic bid to lead his country in a different direction.

He has committed himself to economic reforms, which will be deeply unpopular in Ukraine, particularly in the industrial east, which is closer in sentiment to Moscow than to Brussels.

His best card in arguing for these reforms is that they are necessary to become a member of Europe. But if Europe were seen to rebuff him at the start, that would weaken his hand.

In the worst case it would allow the east, which backed Yanukovych, to rally support for him or another Moscow-leaning figure. The threats of the country splitting, which seemed live at the time of the election challenge, have faded for now, but that is not something any EU country would want to reawaken.

So the European position is one of careful equivocation. There is an attempt to fob off Ukraine with a “ten-point plan” for closer ties, leaked yesterday, as Yushchenko arrived in Moscow for his first state visit.

But these are little more than the courtesies and favours extended routinely by the EU to its neighbours: talks on steel and textiles, and so on.

The harder question is whether Ukraine will apply formally to begin the “perspective to membership”, the list of criteria on market reforms and human rights that are a condition of starting accession talks.

Yushchenko meets José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President, on February 10. There can be little else for the two men to talk about until that is tackled.

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