The European Union will try to overcome sharp differences over dealing with rising powers Russia and China at a foreign ministers' retreat in Slovenia starting on Friday.
Ministers will also seek to give tangible incentives to Western Balkans countries to pursue European integration and turn their backs on nationalism, despite heightened tension over Kosovo's secession from Serbia.
The suppression of pro-independence protests in Tibet forced the issue of China on to the agenda at the last minute, highlighting unease in the 27-nation bloc over how to balance lucrative trade and investment ties with human rights concerns.
Some senior EU politicians, including European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering, have mooted a boycott of the Olympic Games opening ceremony, but others vowed to attend.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy refused this week to rule out staying away from the opening gala. "I expect the French to apply pressure for a European position on the Games, which will take place during the French EU presidency, so it would help them to have something European and show they are not being inactive," an EU official said.
The European Parliament, a megaphone for public opinion which has no direct say over EU foreign policy, gave moral support to the Dalai Lama on Wednesday, inviting the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to plead his cause from its rostrum.
Several deputies criticised absent EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana for rushing to say after the first violence in Tibet that he would nonetheless go to the Beijing games.
The official EU line so far has been to call for restraint and urge China to open a dialogue on cultural rights with the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing has accused of inciting the riots. Diplomats said it was not clear how much further ministers would go in an expected joint statement on Saturday to respond to public pressure to step up criticism of Beijing.
The Europeans are also divided over how to deal with a resurgent Russia, Friday's main theme, with business and energy interests again vying with concerns over human rights and Moscow's treatment of its ex-Soviet neighbours. Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel wants the ministers to agree on a common approach for the EU's first summit with President-elect Dmitry Medvedev in Siberia in June, a presidency spokeswoman said.
He also hopes to get negotiations launched by then on a new, broad EU-Russia strategic partnership agreement spanning trade, energy, human rights and political cooperation. Poland and Lithuania vetoed the start of talks in 2006 after Moscow banned imports of Polish meat and cut off oil supplies to a Lithuanian refinery that was sold to a Polish company rather than a Russian rival.
The new Polish government has agreed to lift its objection after the embargo was ended, but Vilnius is holding out and has added the case of a missing businessman and "frozen conflicts" in Georgia and Moldova to the oil issue, diplomats say.
"The French, Germans, Italians and British want to move forward, the Nordics will criticise the absence of OSCE observers at the elections, and the Baltics and Poles will raise their neighbourhood problems with Russia," the EU official said.
"The discussion has always been more or less unchanged since 2004. We will have that again, with the additional element of a new (Russian) president," he said.
The EU's difficulties in embracing the Western Balkans could be underlined on Saturday when the presidency has scheduled separate meetings with the Serbian foreign minister and representatives of other regional partners, including Kosovo.
Ministers will have breakfast with Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, but it is not clear whether he will attend the session on closer ties with the region along with Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania.
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