EU partners urge Poland to give up 'No' to EU-Russia deal

Brussels - Poland's European Union partners on Monday urged a change in Warsaw's hard-line opposition to a new trade and co- operation deal with Russia.

Warsaw must consider whether its veto of negotiations on a new EU- Russia deal can be a 'sufficient and final position,' German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters after a meeting with his counterparts in Brussels.

Polish interests 'are not ignored and will not be ignored,' Steinmeier said. However, there was 'still enough to discuss about' with Warsaw, he stressed.

Poland earlier on Monday blocked EU plans for a new cooperation pact with Russia, citing Moscow's failure to ratify an international energy charter liberalizing the oil and gas sector.

Warsaw, which is also angry over a year-long Russian ban on imports of Polish meat and plants, gave no indication of when it would be ready to approve the pact which other EU countries consider vital to upgrading relations with Moscow.

EU external relations chief Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters she sympathized with Poland's demands, but said the planned agreement with Russia would include market-opening principles included in the energy charter.

'We all appealed to Poland to lift its blockage,' said Ferrero- Waldner, adding that the commission, the EU's executive agency, would try and give Warsaw reassurances that its demands would be recognized in the new pact.

However, even if negotiations on the new agreement are not launched as expected at an EU-Russia summit in Helsinki on November 24, relations between the two sides will not be damaged, she said.

'There is no danger of a legal vacuum,' in the relationship because the current pact with Moscow could be extended, said Ferrero- Waldner.

Discussions on the pact will continue over the coming weeks. 'We still have some time to go,' said Ferrero-Waldner.

The EU has been trying unsuccessfully to convince Russia to sign the energy charter for several years.

Russian President Vladimir Putin repeated at a meeting with EU leaders in Finland last week that he was not ready to open up the energy sector to full foreign competition.
Source:monstersandcritics.com