Brussels, 22/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - Despite major diplomatic efforts, Russia has still not lifted its embargo against Polish meat. Due to this ongoing problem, Poland is still unable to agree to opening negotiations on a new EU/Russia partnership agreement, which is expected to include the particularly important energy component. Warsaw now intends to maintain its veto on launching negotiations as long as Moscow does not lift the ban on its products.
At the end of a meeting with Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Sunday 21 January in Sotchi (southern Russia), the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, conceded that the problem of the Russian embargo on Polish meat had “not been solved”. Nonetheless, she did express hope that negotiations could begin on the EU-Russia partnership before the end of the first half of 2007. After her meeting with Mr Putin, Ms Merkel explained that they were working intensively on the matter and, “advancing step by step and… I hope we will be able to begin negotiations (on the partnership agreement) under the German Presidency and that we will have made progress during the EU-Russia summit” on 18 May in Samara, Russia.
An official from the Russian veterinary service stated that the dispute on Polish meat imports that were banned in Russia, was being sorted out because Russian veterinary services are now going to be able to carry out health checks in export firms in Poland. The Russian official explained that the problem would only be able to be definitively resolved once they had the results of the Russian inspections in Poland. The Russian official justified the banning measures and explained that the, “problem is not only one of bad quality meat we receive from Poland but also the bad products from third countries coming from Poland into Russia”. He asserted that Poland had recently sent Russia Indian buffalo that was banned in the EU and Russia, as well as Chinese pork imports that had been banned due to veterinary concerns.
The European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection Markos Kyprianou met the Russian minister of agriculture, Alexei Gordeyev, on 19 January to discuss the problem of the Russian embargo on Polish meat. Kyprianou provided written assurances to the Russians that Poland complied with EU requirements on agricultural product safety. The Russians indicated that they needed time to examine the documents provided by the Commission, and that it would be sending experts to Poland to assess the situation.
EU/Russia memorandum of Understanding in Veterinary Affairs
On the same day, the EU and Russia signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” on the trade of animal products. Initialled by Sergey Dankvert, the head of Russia's veterinary and phytosanitary inspection services and Paola Testori Coggi, the Deputy Director of DG Health and Consumer Protection's “food chain safety” department, the document includes certification rules on animals and animal products exported by the EU to Russia as from 1 January 2007. This agreement guarantees the Russian government that animal products from Romania and Bulgaria fully respect European health standards, and that only healthy products from these two new EU counties will be marketed in Russia. Russia had threatened to impose an embargo from 1 January 2007 on animal products from the whole of the EU because it considered that Romanian and Bulgarian products presented risks to human and animal health due to the cases of BSE, swine fever and Blue Tongue that had broken out in these two countries. It noted that “We can guarantee food safety for European and Russian consumers and ensure an uninterrupted flow of goods between the EU and Russia”. The Russian minister for agriculture also indicated that in cases of any violations of Russian health requirements committed by Romania or Bulgaria, Moscow would impose restrictions on deliveries of foodstuffs coming from the whole of the EU. (lc)