EU-Russia talks fail to end meat export row

23/04/2007

Weekend talks between EU and Russian officials have failed to persuade Moscow to lift its ban on Polish meat. That, in turn, casts a cloud on prospects for a quick start to negotiations on a new partnership agreement between the bloc and its main energy supplier.

(EUobserver, Irish Times - 23/04/07; AP, AFP, Reuters, DPA, FT - 22/04/07)

"Our colleague from Russia ... feels there should be more steps taken," EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou told reporters after Sunday's (April 22nd) talks. [Getty Images]

Two days of talks between EU and Russian officials ended in the Cypriot resort city of Limassol on Sunday (April 22nd) with the two sides failing to settle a long-running dispute over Polish meat exports.

"Our colleague from Russia...feels there should be more steps taken," EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou told reporters after the end of negotiations with Russian Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev. "Our experts will continue working on these issues ... and if there is a need we will meet at our level again," he added. Moscow imposed a ban on meat imports from Poland in November 2005, claiming that lax Polish food safety controls had allowed Indian buffalo meat to enter Russia labeled as beef.

"Our European counterparts expected more from these negotiations, but our prime interest is to restore order in the meat market, particularly with respect to Polish products," Gordeyev said in Limassol.

The EU believes the Polish authorities have taken sufficient steps to address Russia's concerns about the quality and safety of meat exports, including the countries on Moscow's meat imports banned list.

"The position of the EU is based on the progress done. We could have had some immediate results today," Kyprianou said.

Poland, which joined the EU in May 2004, along with nine other central and east European countries, views the Russian embargo as politically motivated. It has blocked the start of talks on a new EU-Russia partnership agreement. The existing accord, which was drafted more than a decade ago, is set to expire in November.

Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski made it clear Sunday that his country would not "agree to the start of talks with Russia on a new agreement" until the dispute has been resolved.

"Poland doesn't belong to the EU from Russia's point of view," he added at a news conference in the northeastern Polish city of Bialystok. "Russia wants to force the EU and Poland to acknowledge that it can do what it wants with the new EU members, especially Poland. It cannot. We received full solidarity from the EU, and I hope that will continue."

His remarks came less than 24 hours before a meeting of the 27-nation bloc's foreign ministers with their Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Luxembourg on Monday. The discussions are part of preparations for an EU-Russia summit in Samara on May 18th, when the new partnership agreement, the tense issue of Kosovo's future status, and human rights in Russia are expected to top the agenda.

A deal in Limassol was expected to lead to the EU foreign ministers' giving the green light for launching talks on the new pact. Discussions would cover a broad range of issues, including energy supplies, economic co-operation and trade.

According to Euobserver, however, the Russian meat ban is not the only obstacle. Lithuania, which also joined the Union in 2004, could veto talks on a new accord unless Russia resumes oil pipeline supplies to its petrol refinery in Mazeikiu.