Translated material
Fig with meat
Russia and the European Union failed agricultural negotiations
The next round of negotiations between Russia and the European Union to lift the embargo on the supply of Polish meat ended in failure. The success of these negotiations would allow the EU Council of Foreign Ministers on Monday in Luxembourg to approve a mandate to begin negotiations with Russia on a new comprehensive strategic partnership agreement. Now the fate of not only the agreement itself, but even the beginning of negotiations on it remains vague.The previous agreement expired last year. Negotiations on a new agreement were supposed to begin in November last year. But Warsaw used its veto power, blocking negotiations on an agreement between Russia and the EU precisely because of the Russian meat embargo, which Poland considers unfounded.
Even the statement by the Polish authorities a week ago that Poland was ready to lift the veto on the negotiations did not help to end the current meat negotiations with success . The Polish authorities thereby made it clear that they are ready to be satisfied not with the lifting of the Russian embargo, but only with the determination of a clear period after which the ban on the import of its agricultural products will be lifted.
The failure of the meat talks forced Warsaw to radically change its tone in its conversation with Russia. Deputy Prime Minister of the Polish Government, leader of the League of Polish Families party Roman Giertych said yesterday that the refusal to sign the agreement means that “Russia is firmly in its position, which is contrary to the Russia-EU agreement. This means that we are entering a period of no longer cold, but icy relations.” However, Poland itself found itself in the most difficult situation due to the failure of negotiations.
The essence of the Russian claims is that Poland was engaged in re-export, that is, under the guise of its own products, it supplied Russia with meat and vegetables purchased in third countries. Moreover, in countries that Russian veterinary services consider dangerous in veterinary and phytosanitary terms. Russia introduced a temporary ban on the supply of meat and vegetables from Poland in 2005. EU officials acknowledged that Poland had made certain deviations from European requirements regarding meat exports. However, in their opinion, there are no grounds for the embargo and the measures introduced by Russia are “disproportionate.”
Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeev spent last weekend in Cyprus trying to develop a common position with European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection Marcos Kyprianou. However, they failed to reach mutual understanding. As usual, each side demonstrates its conviction that it is right and suspects its opponents of unwillingness to reach a compromise. As a source close to the negotiations told RIA Novosti, the problem is that the Polish side wants to have carte blanche to continue somewhat uncontrolled supplies as before. “The Russian side proposes various formulas and work schemes in order to get the process off the ground. There is no desire on the other side to resolve the existing problems,” believes the unnamed source. According to the source, “it’s not a matter of the EU’s position; apparently, behind this is the desire of the Polish side to keep everything as it was.”
The European Commission, for its part, believes that Poland has made significant progress in organizing quality control of its agricultural products, and recent violations in this area “are not systematic and therefore cannot be a justification for maintaining the embargo regime.” According to Russian Minister Alexei Gordeev, EU representatives “expected to solve the problem of Polish meat in such a way as to first open trade, and then begin to sort it out and put things in order.”
However, this outcome of the negotiations was quite predictable. On the eve of his trip to Cyprus, Mr. Gordeev said that “the situation in Poland continues to be difficult, first of all, we are talking about those companies that are engaged in the purchase and sale of raw meat. These are traders who are not directly related to Polish agriculture. They use various loopholes and gaps in legislation, and as a result, meat that is passed off as European, including Polish, is imported from third countries. Unfortunately, this process continues."
Poland's reluctance to establish order in its meat processing plants that suits Russia, coupled with its veto power, puts the EU in a difficult position. The conclusion of a new agreement is necessary for all parties, but Brussels is even more interested in it than Moscow. This document should detail all the norms and rules of the game in the field of energy dialogue with Russia. And the European Union still depends very heavily on Russian energy supplies. Thus, Brussels itself is playing into Russia's hands, trying to convince Poland to lift the veto without preconditions, in exchange for a promise to make every effort to lift the Russian embargo.