EU-Russia meat deal agreed

The EU will sign a deal with Russia by 18 January to ensure the continued export of meat from member states, the European Commission has said. The announcement follows assurances given to Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou by Moscow on Tuesday (19 December) that it would not ban EU meat, as it had threatened to do.

A spokesman for the Commission said the details of a memorandum of understanding had to be finalised and signed by 18 January but that there were "assurances from the Russian minister for agriculture that there would be no disruption to existing exports" from the beginning of January.

Russia had threatened to ban EU meat when Romania and Bulgaria join the EU in January citing health concerns. As the EU itself has banned meat from the majority of facilities in the two countries only a small amount of Romanian and Bulgarian produce will be available for export to Russia, the spokesman added.

A Russian ban on all imports of EU meat, dairy and fish products would affect some €1.7 billion in annual trade.

But the agreement fails to resolve the ban Russia has imposed on Polish meat, put in place a year ago over hygiene concerns. Warsaw has accused Russia of playing politics and has in turn vetoed the start of EU-Russia co-operation talks.

The Commission denied the Polish problem had been ignored in favour of averting a general ban. "The Commission has not sacrificed any member state for this deal," the spokesman said.

"We are committed to discussing this issue…we hope a positive climate will facilitate a lifting of the ban on Polish meat," he added.

The Polish ban is expected to be discussed by health experts in Russia on 17 January. Polish Farm Minister Andrzej Lepper said he had been given support by agriculture ministers meeting in Brussels this week. "The other ministers assured me, the Polish issue is being treated as part of the general problem," he said.

Kyprianou’s hand in brokering a deal was strengthened by the rejection by some member states of offers of bilateral deals with Russia to allow meat to be exported.

"There was a definite understanding of the competencies of the Commission and the member states on this issue. Once the legal definition was clarified late last week, we immediately prepared for this meeting," said the commissioner.

Leaders from the member states - Ireland, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands - approached by Moscow publicly rejected the offers at the European Council last week, with all in agreement that the Commission should act on their behalf.

"This will be dealt with as a European matter. The Commission will carry out the negotiations and deal with the Russians on this. We support that," said Irish Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern, whose country stands to lose 47,000 tonnes in meat exports to Russia in the event of a ban.

The EU will sign a deal with Russia by 18 January to ensure the continued export of meat from member states, the European Commission has said. The announcement follows assurances given to Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou by Moscow on Tuesday (19 December) that it would not ban EU meat, as it had threatened to do.