Poland wants energy security included in EU-Russia talks before lifting veto

WARSAW (Thomson Financial) - Poland will drop its veto on the start of talks on a new EU-Russia agreement if the 27-member bloc agrees to include energy security on its agenda with Moscow, Poland's foreign minister said Tuesday.

'Poland motivated its veto with issues tied to energy security and here also from our side there has been progress,' Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters in Warsaw.

'We have given the Slovenian (EU) presidency a draft annex to the negotiation mandate (for the future EU-Russia agreement), which if it is accepted will allow us to return to talks about lifting the veto,' Sikorski said.

'So this is a conditional position. Now Poland will either be able, or will not be able, to remove the veto, depending on the position of the Slovenian presidency and the positions of the remaining (EU) members,' he said.

Talks on a new partnership and cooperation agreement to the European Union's ties with non-member Russia have been on ice for more than a year because of disputes between Moscow and Warsaw.

Under EU rules, member states are allowed to veto bloc-wide decisions, such as whether to launch talks with other countries.

Source: forbes.com