FRANCE thrust itself back to the centre of efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis by announcing on September 10th that it would put a resolution before the United Nations Security Council later in the day. This will warn Syria to dismantle its chemical-weapons stocks, or face “extremely serious” consequences, declared Laurent Fabius (pictured), the French foreign minister. Having been left on the sidelines over the past week, France is keen to regain the initiative after Russia's proposal yesterday to put Syria’s chemical weapons under international control. Mr Fabius said that the French proposal would be tabled under Chapter Seven of the UN charter, which would authorise the use of force if Syria failed to comply. The French want five elements in the resolution: the condemnation of the August 21st massacre, which Mr Fabius said firmly was “committed by the regime”; the opening up of Syria’s chemical-weapons stocks to international control and dismantling; the placing of such stocks under an international inspections regime; a warning that Syria would face serious consequences if it breached these terms; and, finally, the sanctioning by the international criminal court of those responsible for the August 21st attack.

Until now, France had sounded the most bellicose note in Europe over the use of force against Bashar Assad’s regime. François Hollande, the French president, had called for those responsible for “gassing innocents” to “be punished”, and said that France was ready to join strikes against Syria even in the face of hostile public opinion and the absence of the British. Passing through Paris at the weekend, John Kerry, America’s Secretary of State, made the case—in elegant French—for the regime’s responsibility for the chemical attack and the need to respond. Moreover, after an abortive attempt last month, France had abandoned the idea of trying to secure UN backing for military action against Syria, given resistance from Russia and China, and this despite a deep French wariness about acting without UN support ever since America’s 2003 invasion of Iraq.

But the French consider that Russia’s idea of placing Syria’s chemical weapons under international control—and today’s announcement by Walid Muallem, Syrian foreign minister, that his country would comply—are worth testing with a binding, credible UN resolution. Mindful that they could be no more than a “diversionary tactic”, Mr Fabius was careful to say that he is looking at these proposals with both “interest” and “caution”. The French want a tough resolution, under Chapter Seven, in order to keep the threat of military action credible even during diplomatic negotiations. It was the credibility of this threat, they judge, that secured the latest move by Russia.

For the unpopular Mr Hollande, Mr Fabius’s latest initiative helps put France back at the diplomatic forefront. Mr Hollande has been taunted at home for cocking his gun, but then having to wait for America’s say-so before pulling the trigger. For the proudly independent-minded French, it was particularly difficult to digest the idea that the military strikes that Mr Hollande had announced were being held up by Barack Obama’s decision to seek authorisation from Congress. This discomfort was aggravated by concern about France's isolation within Europe over Syria.

Now French diplomacy is back in gear. Mr Fabius says he plans to go to China at the end of the week, and then later to Russia. The proposed UN resolution, stressed one French official, was “discussed with our partners, but is a French initiative.”

This fresh effort could also help to deal with Mr Hollande’s public-opinion problem. All polls suggest that the French are firmly against military strikes against Syria without UN backing, which puts them out of tune with the country’s more hawkish foreign-policy establishment.

Despite the publication of a detailed nine-page French intelligence report, which laid out the scale of Syria’s chemical-weapons stocks and concluded that only the regime could have been responsible, the French are also not wholly convinced by the evidence. Many are suspending judgment pending the UN inspectors’ report. An effort to pass a UN resolution might either put off strikes altogether, or even help to persuade the French that the use of force might be justified.