Russia threatens to extend import ban to all EU meat

European Commission officials will travel to Moscow next week to try to solve the dispute over Polish meat exports to Russia before it escalates out of control.

Hopes of solving the dispute - sparked by Russia’s refusal to lift a ban on ­exports of Polish meat - ­received a fresh blow this week, when Russia threatened to introduce a total ban on imports of EU meat.

On Friday (2 March), Moscow announced that EU countries must provide more documentation to certify the safety of meat exports, or else a ban on all meat from the EU would come into effect on 1 April.

Russia’s threat comes ahead of a meeting, ­scheduled to begin sometime after 12 March, in Moscow between Russian, Polish and Commission officials to try to solve the problem.

The dispute over Polish exports has called the fut­ure of EU-Russia relations into question, as Poland refuses to allow the Commission to start to negotiate a new political and economic agreement with Russia before the ban is lifted.

It was hoped that the talks in Moscow, requested by the Russian authorities to discuss the findings of inspections in Poland, could lead to a breakthrough.

Russia accuses Poland of not applying adequate sanitary controls to meat exports.

But EU diplomats reacted angrily to Russia’s latest announcement on a possible extension of the ban to cover all EU meat exports, accusing the Kremlin of making spurious allegations for political gain.

"They will be asking for photos of each pig that is going to Russia next," said one EU official.

Publicly, the Commission has criticised Russia for negotiating through the press, but admitted that it can apply its own standards for imports.

"The Russians have their own standards and are entitled to make demands on imports, just as the EU does," said Philip Tod, a Commission spokesperson. But Tod added that international principles and standards were set out through bodies such as the World Organisation for Animal Health.

The Commission had hoped to resolve the issue at a technical level, but its efforts are increasingly called into question.

Poland insists that Russia must make a firm commitment at a political level to lift the ban before talks on the EU-Russia political and trade agreement can start.

EU representatives will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on 23 April to prepare the agenda for the next EU-Russia summit, which will take place in Samara, Russia, on 18 May.

If no deal is reached before then, Poland is expected to insist that the issue is dealt with at the highest level, calling the summit itself into question.

European Commission officials will travel to Moscow next week to try to solve the dispute over Polish meat exports to Russia before it escalates out of control.

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