Meat in Eurosauce

Brussels offers Russians Warsaw-style tenderloin

Today in Berlin, during the Green Week fair, representatives of the European Commission, Russia and Poland will discuss the ban on the import of Polish livestock and crop products, introduced by Moscow more than a year ago. The Russian side imposed sanctions due to violations of sanitary requirements and supplies of meat that did not meet standards from third countries. In November 2006, this led to an international scandal. The Polish government, the only one of the then 25 member countries of the European Union, vetoed the start of partnership negotiations between the European Union and Russia on the eve of the EU-Russia summit in Helsinki. The condition for its lifting was ultimatum - Moscow must abandon the embargo on meat from Poland.

In Warsaw they began to act through Brussels. In less than two months, European officials visited Polish meat processing plants several times with control and inspection. On the eve of today's trilateral meeting, its participant, EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection Marcos Kyprianou, visited Warsaw. The European Commissioner promised to assure Russian representatives that Poland complies with European legislation and the requirements of the bilateral trade agreement with Russia. And yesterday, the representative of the European Commission, Philip Tod, announced that there were no longer any grounds for continuing the embargo: “We will push Russia to immediately lift the embargo.”

Commenting on the current situation for Vremya Novostey, Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Andrzej Lepper expressed regret that Poland had to block the EU-Russia negotiations, but explained this by the sluggishness of the dialogue between Moscow and Warsaw. The minister expressed satisfaction that Poland had fulfilled all the conditions put forward by Russia, but noted that if Moscow continues to maintain the embargo, then it must now express its complaints to the EU Commissioner.

In Poland they do not think that all issues will be resolved on Wednesday, but they hope that today At least a deadline for resolving the conflict will be set. In turn, Russian Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov noted that the conclusion of an agreement is possible if Polish and European experts present the relevant documents on Wednesday. Its signing may occur on Sunday or Monday during the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Russia. Germany holds the presidency of the European Union in the first half of this year.

Valery MASTEROV, staff correspondent for Moscow News in Warsaw, for Vremya Novostei