Barack Obama was handed an early foreign policy hot potato yesterday when President Sarkozy proposed a truce in the row over US plans for a missile defence system in Europe.

Taking it upon himself to make the EU’s first intervention in the debate – and getting the backing of Russia, which has threatened to position missiles in Kaliningrad – Mr Sarkozy proposed a summit next year on a new pan-European security system, after a suspension of activity from both Moscow and Washington.

The French President’s latest piece of off-the-cuff diplomacy caught most of the main players by surprise and raised eyebrows for seemingly trying to bounce the next US President into a policy change as well as talks about a security organisation to rival Nato.

Mr Obama has said only that he will review America’s national security priorities, including the Bush Administration’s plans to site ten interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic.

These two countries remain confident that the plan will not be scrapped and were dumbstruck at Mr Sarkozy’s proposals yesterday, which seemed to reward the threats made by President Medvedev of Russia last week.

Speaking after hosting the one-day EU-Russia summit in Nice, Mr Sarkozy proposed that a summit be held next June or July at which Russia, the US and Europe could discuss a long-term security framework.

Although the US has insisted that the missile shield would act as a defence against Iran, Mr Medvedev chose the day of Mr Obama’s election to threaten the deployment in Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave next door to Poland, in a Cold War-style escalation of the row.

Mr Sarkozy, speaking at a joint press conference with Mr Medvedev, said: “I have suggested that in mid2009 we could meet within a framework to lay the foundations of what could possibly be a future pan-European security system. This would bring together the Russians, the Americans and the Europeans.”

Mr Sarkozy said that this could be discussed at a summit of the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe, adding: “Between now and then, please, no more talk of missile deployment or antimissile deployment.”

He added that the proposed missile shield would do nothing to help European security.

The suggestions represent the latest in a string of eye-catching proposals from the hyperactive French President while his country holds the six-month EU presidency.

Many fizzle out as fast as they are made after painful battles with fellow EU leaders, such as his call for political intervention in the running of the European Central Bank, his desire to become the “economic president” of the EU by chairing regular meetings of eurogroup countries and his suggestion of European sovereign wealth funds to take stakes in ailing industries.

Responding to his latest proposal, Mr Medvedev called for all sides in the dispute to avoid “unilateral measures” before a new security framework was agreed.

He also defended the Russian threat to move missiles to Kaliningrad as a counter-measure, calling it “a response to various nations in Europe who, without consulting anyone, agreed to deploy new weapons on their soil”.

Speaking on a visit to Prague, the Polish Foreign Minister said that he and his Czech counterpart hoped that Mr Obama’s Administration would go ahead with the missile defence scheme.

Radek Sikorski said that he and Karel Schwarzenberg understood that Mr Obama “will take a new look” at the plans but he said that they did not expect “any revolution” in thinking on the project.

Showing that Russia and the EU remained divided over Moscow’s behaviour in Georgia, Mr Sarkozy repeated in front of Mr Medvedev that Moscow had not yet met all the conditions set in the peace agreement that he negotiated. Mr Medvedev insisted just a few minutes later that Russia had indeed done all that was asked of it.

The two sides nevertheless agreed to resume talks on a wideranging economic and political agreement covering their relationship after they were frozen in August by the EU in protest at Russia’s “disproportionate reaction” in Georgia.

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