No Russian ban on EU meat, but what about Poland?

Russia will NOT introduce a general embargo on meat products from the EU as of January 1st. The good news has come after a meeting of Union health commissioner Markos Kyprianu with Russian agriculture minister Alexei Gordiyev in Moscow. However, Poland does not share the joy of Brussels.


The Russian side has accepted Union guarantees that the imported meat will comply with strict EU sanitary regulations. In practice, this means eliminating chances for re-exporting meat of Romanian and Bulgarian origin, which has been causing the greatest concern of Russian authorities. It also means that Moscow will continue evaluating trade with EU partners on bilateral principles with individual countries.

This, in turn, clearly indicates the year-long ban on meat imports from Poland will continue as well, despite strong Union support for solving the Polish trade conflict with its eastern neighbor, including a European Parliament resolution on the matter.

Polish deputy premier and agriculture minister Andrzej Lepper has returned from Brussels where he discussed the problem with EU officials. He said Poland would be expecting a defined Russian stand on trade relations with the Union by the end of the year, including a decision to lift the embargo on Polish food products, especially meat.

'We should be presented with a Russian stand by January 1st. We want to know whether the Polish proposed 50 day period for re-opening the Russian market to Polish animal products is realistic, or some other date to be specified.'

However, MEP Wojciech Roszkowski is worried by the absence of the "Polish case" in commissioner Kyprianu's discussions in Moscow.

'The commissioner's visit has been slightly disappointing. Of course, it is the Russians who are stalling, but the EU's pledged determination to display more solidarity has not increased either.'

On the other hand, Krzysztof Bobinski, editor of the 'Union & Poland' magazine sees the position of Brussels stemming from equal treatment of all members and its insistence on setting trade relations on the basis of general EU-Russia agreements. He also points to the advantage of such tactics for Poland.

'It means the Commission has come to the conclusion that for the moment the Polish case cannot be resolved. They hope to set aside the Polish problem in order not to get a straight NO. They leave the issue to more discrete diplomacy. I think it's better, if you know things aren't going to go well, not to push them in order not to get a refusal, which is then difficult to turn around. They'd rather leave it aside to quiet diplomacy and see what can be done.'

Meanwhile, equally discrete diplomacy is needed to solve problems with Polish meat exports to Ukraine, which has also been upholding its ban for more than a year. Since several relevant agreements to drop the embargo have not been implemented, the latest date set being end November, Poland is considering a counter measure. The first to be listed for import ban will probably be Ukrainian honey.
Source: By Slawek Szefs, polskieradio.pl