Kyprianou seeks to end meat ban

Markos Kyprianou, the European health commissioner, will meet Russia’s agriculture minister on Saturday (21 April) in a bid to overturn the country’s 16-month-old ban on Polish meat products.

Kyprianou will have talks with Alexei Gordeyev in Cyprus to try to end a ban that has blighted EU-Russia relations.

The meeting comes two days before Russian and EU foreign policy chiefs meet in Luxembourg on Monday (23 April) to discuss negotiations on a new economic and political agreement governing relations between Russia and the EU.

Since November 2006, Poland has been blocking negotiations on the agreement until the meat ban is lifted.

Diplomats hope a deal in Cyprus will allow Poland to lift its objections. "There have been some positive developments. We hope the meeting will have some practical results," said one EU diplomat.

But others are more cautious about the prospects. Poland still wants to see a written commitment from Russia, promising to lift the ban on a specified date.

"It is necessary to have a serious proposal," said a Polish diplomat.

According to another diplomat, the best solution would be a letter saying that Russia "will lift embargo in two weeks or whatever".

A major obstacle to achieving a deal is Russia’s insistence that the issue is a technical problem, while Poland maintains that the ban is politically motivated and Russia’s allegations of poor hygiene standards are fabricated.

The Commission tried to solve the problem at a technical level, but there are now signs it is losing patience with Russia’s repeated request for clarifications. Privately officials accuse Russia of stalling. Officials said that Commission President José Manuel Barroso had tried to contact Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone to discuss the question but was unable to reach him.

On Tuesday (17 April), the Commission replied to Russia’s requests for more information about phytosanitary standards in Poland. In its letter the Commission rejected Russian calls for further inspections of Polish meat processing facilities.

"We have said our focus is on clarifying any outstanding issues," said a spokesperson for Kyprianou, "we have now done that as far as the Commission is concerned."

Markos Kyprianou, the European health commissioner, will meet Russia’s agriculture minister on Saturday (21 April) in a bid to overturn the country’s 16-month-old ban on Polish meat products.