Brussels, 16/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - The visit to Warsaw of the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection has revived hopes for the lifting of the Russian embargo on Polish meat. In an interview with journalists on Monday, at the end of his meeting with the Polish minister of agriculture, Andrzej Lepper, Marcos Kyprianou, declared, “In my opinion, we have enough documentation to have this ban lifted”. The spat between Poland and Russia may soon have a favourable outcome. If the embargo is not immediately lifted after the meeting of European, Russian and Polish experts on Wednesday in Berlin, the Commission hopes that Moscow will at least recognise that the embargo is no longer justified, and that a timetable for removing the ban can be established.
The Commissioner explained on Monday that the affair had been rectified, and that “the system is in place, the corrective measures have been taken to make sure that the system works properly”. Russia suspended the import of Polish meat in November 2005 following infringements to veterinary legislation, which mainly involved falsifications about low quality meat from a third country destined for the Russian market. On Monday in Warsaw, Commissioner Kyprianou and Minister Lepper pointed out that Poland had rectified the shortcomings identified during the most recent visit of inspectors from the Commission's veterinary office in November 2006. On Tuesday a spokesperson for the Commissioner stated that the country is therefore respecting requirements regarding transit inspections, and is fully applying “Community law in this domain”.
Mr Kyprianou was keen to point out that “We have to be realistic”. He also acknowledged that he was, “prepared to provide all the information to the Russians, but of course this is a complex question and there is a possibility that it cannot be resolved in a single meeting”. He did say, however, that, “we have to at least succeed in establishing a procedure for reaching a final solution to the problem”. He also asserted that Commission experts would be tackling the issue on Wednesday in Berlin where the agreement on maintaining meat exports from the whole of the EU to Russia would be finalised. This “Memorandum of Understanding”, which will be signed on 19 January in the German capital, was decided in December 2006 in response to Russian concerns about Bulgaria and Romania respecting health and phytosanitary standards. Moscow threatened to ban meat imports from the whole of the EU when these two countries joined the EU(EUROPE 9339).
A Polish diplomat confirmed that if the resolution of the trade dispute between Warsaw and Moscow is confirmed, a solution based on the EU's negotiating brief for the EU-Russia Partnership Agreement will follow. Shortly before the EU-Russia Summit on 24 November 2006, Poland effectively opposed the opening of negotiations with Moscow for a new partnership and cooperation agreement, and has so far refused to change its position. Although this diplomat recognised that the meat embargo is the main element contained in the Polish veto, he did point out that this blockage was also initially motivated by Russia's non-ratification of the Energy Charter. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, will be visiting Moscow on 21 January to discuss with President Putin, possible remaining obstacles to launching discussions. (ab)