Brussels/Luxembourg, 17/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - EU agriculture and fisheries ministers briefly discussed the Russian embargo on European fisheries products at their meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday 16 June.
The Estonian delegation raised the matter in the “Other business” section of the Council. Following an investigation, Russia imposed an embargo, in force since 4 June, on fisheries products from Estonia and Latvia. This embargo extends restrictions already put in place by Russia since 2014 on the import of fisheries products from the EU and affects imports of canned fish from Estonian and Latvian operators.
Several ministers, including the Estonian minister, called on the European Commission to propose compensatory measures. The Commission declared itself ready to examine all possible solutions, including increase in the storage aid, improved support in identifying alternative markets and increase in the inter-annual flexibility for transfers of fishing quotas for the most affected stocks.
MEP Urmas Paet (ALDE, Estonia) sent a question to the European Commission on recent Russian import restrictions. He states that the Estonian processing companies inspected by the Russians “meet all the EU requirements”. “The ban is disproportionate and Russia's approach in setting up trade barriers, in particular by questioning the reliability of the EU wide quality control and safety surveillance system, should be of great concern for all member states”, he added. He called on the Commission to raise this matter at the upcoming meetings with the representatives of the Russian Federation. (Lionel Changeur)