Brussels, 05/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - The lifting of the Polish veto on the opening of negotiations with a view to a new partnership agreement between the EU and Russia has not yet been achieved, but the meeting of the 27 member states' ambassadors on 3 April marks a “step” in that direction, a German diplomat confirmed on Thursday. He stresses that the issue was not the subject of any objection from the member states, even though, according to another diplomatic source, it was discussed. From a technical point of view, Coreper was therefore able to give the go-ahead to the Commission's negotiating mandate, which will now be submitted to the ministers for approval. “We will have to see how matters develop”, the German presidency indicated. It has not yet determined at which Council the issue will be tackled.
This is a “positive political signal”, demonstrating that Warsaw is willing not to block the opening of negotiations, a Polish diplomat said. It is not, however, clear whether Poland has already, and to what extent, changed its intentions on giving the green light to talks with Moscow, to which it is opposed because of the Russian embargo on Polish agricultural products. There are “no detailed conditions”, explained a Polish spokesperson, who, while not setting a deadline for the lifting of the embargo, did say that it would be good if this were to happen before the EU-Russia summit on 18 May in Samara. Poland will nonetheless continue to call for a declaration to accompany the negotiating mandate, the diplomat implied.
On Wednesday, the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, had already welcomed the U-turn which the dossier appears to have taken. “Recent developments (ed: the Coreper meeting) are positive, they are going in the right direction”, Mr Barroso told the press. (ab/hb)