JMA---your question is at an interesting point in the development of the EU for a number of reasons.
1. Germany via Merkel and her FM have taken quasi lead in the EU---that leads to the division of labor between Germany and France with the UK providing hard rhetoric as a byline---meaning when the Germans do not want to destroy the back channels they have with Russia and an announcement against Russia occurs then it comes from France---when German wants a clear statement from both Germany and the EU then Merkel leads and her FM gets to the point. Last night for example--the Russians have been blocking a OCSE mission to send observers to doublecheck Russian complaints in the Ukraine but Russia has been blocking the mission with their veto--German FM stated bluntly Russia you have not one or two weeks to respond you have 24 hrs to respond or we will be sending a large contingent of the EU Bde officers as observers to together with civilians instead of the OCSE---Russia is now indicating they will approve--but again Russia was told Germany wants to see action not words within the next 24 hrs.
By the way the Germans are at the point of fully not trusting the Russians even with their long history and this is carrying into the EU---think actually Putin might have over reached in his belief the Germans would remain neutral towards his moves.
2. under German guidance the second round or freezes did in fact hit key Russians supporters of Putin
3. and this is important---Merkel realizes as do the Russians that the EU could not get their act together for a unified list on the actual sanctions and embargo if they have to move on it---so she found a middle ground which IMO is a perfect fit for the EU---each member is now analyzing their economy and each will come up with what each can do without a high level of reverse damage---this allows the weaker EU countries to specifically target something they can support and show their support and gives actually the EU a far bigger hammer as Russia must then deal with 28 different approaches/industrial areas that otherwise if unified would be easy to respond to
That is a major plus in getting the EU to act as a single voice and it is the first such time they have done this---actually all 28 leaders were very supportive of the decision.
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