Summit too soon for EU harmony with Russia

Russia’s ban on meat imports from Poland will remain in place until Poland reconsiders a Russian offer made in April, Russia’s ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said ahead of an EU-Russia summit next week (26 October).

The offer foresees that Russian experts would inspect Polish food factories and give them clearance to export towards Russia, which Poland says is unnecessary.

Russia banned meat imports from Poland in November 2005 citing food safety concerns. Poland maintains that its food exports meet EU health standards and that the embargo is politically motivated.

Relations between Poland and Russia have been tense since Poland broke loose from the Communist bloc in 1989, but hit rock bottom when the current Polish government came to power in July 2006.

"Unfortunately, this whole thing has been grossly politicised in Warsaw," Chizhov said in reference to the meat row.

He said that his government was not prepared to modify the April offer and that the ball was in Poland’s court. A Polish source described the offer as "not serious".

According to Polish diplomats, Russia has also threatened to extend the ban to include other food products, a move Chizhov dismissed as a routine early warning notification concerning specific items.

A Polish deputy agriculture minister told reporters in Moscow on Monday (15 October) that Poland would veto Russia’s membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) unless the meat ban was lifted. Russia hopes to wrap up WTO accession talks by the end of this year.

The meat row has held up negotiations on a successor treaty to the EU-Russia Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA), which expires in December. Unless either side declares its intention to terminate it, the agreement will automatically be renewed every year until a new deal has been signed.

Poland has vetoed a mandate for negotiations on a new agreement because of Russia’s import ban.

Under the current PCA, Russia and the EU have held summits every half year. The next one will take place near Lisbon next week.

The timing of the summit is inauspicious since it falls between a general election in Poland this weekend (21 October) and a Russian presidential poll next April. As a result, few observers expect much progress on substantive issues. "I would suspect that before the elections are over, the Polish position might not change," Chizhov said, "and afterwards, we will see." He added that the five days that lie between the Polish poll and the summit might not be enough for Poland to change its mind.

Disagreements over tougher sanctions on Iran and the final status of Kosovo are additional burdens on EU-Russia relations. Chizhov said that Russia considered 10 December, the date by which international negotiators have to report on Kosovo to the United Nations, "a pit stop" on the road to a solution rather than the end of that road, a position that puts Russia at odds with the declared goal of both the EU and the United States to reach a conclusion on Kosovo by then.

Russia rejects independence for Kosovo arguing that it would serve as a precedent for similar conflicts; Chizhov mentioned Abkhazia, Transdniestria, Nagorno Karabakh and South Ossetia as examples. He also accused the US of making the Kosovo talks more complicated by sending the signal to the Kosovars that "whatever happens, they will get independence one way or another".

"This is very detrimental to the negotiating process itself," he said, stressing that Russia would accept any solution negotiated by the two sides.

Russia’s ban on meat imports from Poland will remain in place until Poland reconsiders a Russian offer made in April, Russia’s ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said ahead of an EU-Russia summit next week (26 October).