EU, Russia at odds on Polish meat ban

EU, Russia at odds on Polish meat ban

EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said he and Russian Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev had been unable to reach an agreement to end the 16-month ban in two days of talks in the Cypriot resort of Limassol.

"The position of the EU is that based on the progress done, we could have some immediate results today. Our colleague from Russia ... feels that more steps should be taken," he told reporters.

"This is what we will be discussing in the next few weeks," he added.

EU officials had hoped for a deal to allow EU foreign ministers to give a green light on Monday for the launch of talks on a pact with Moscow covering energy, trade, economic cooperation and rights in time for a May 18 summit.

EU officials said this did not now look possible and the failure will overshadow talks between EU ministers and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Luxembourg on Monday to prepare for the summit.

On Thursday, EU ministers raised hopes for a deal when they approved steps to make it easier for Russians to obtain visas to visit the 27-nation European Union from June.

But any sense of an easier mood was dispelled on Friday when EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said the level of trust between the European Union and Russia had reached its lowest level since the collapse of communism in 1991.

Energy as a weapon

EU countries fear Russia is using its vast energy resources as a political weapon and have criticized Moscow for shutting off supplies of oil and gas during disputes with neighboring customers like Ukraine.

EU leaders have also expressed concern about the unexplained murders of dissidents and journalists critical of the Kremlin and police behavior during anti-government protests in Russia.

The European Union is keen to start talks on the new cooperation pact with Russia in order to ease worries about future energy supplies.

But EU-member Poland has been blocking the start of the talks and says it will not end its veto until the meat ban, which it says is politically motivated, is lifted.

An EU official said: "We had hoped that we had delivered everything necessary to get a solution. Obviously, there's still a problem and the question is how quickly we can solve it."

Both sides said they would continue working for a solution, but Kyprianou told reporters they had "a different approach as to how to proceed".

Gordeyev told reporters he was aware the EU had expected more from the talks, but added: "Our prime interest is to restore order in the meat market, and particularly with respect to Polish products."

Russia says it is concerned contaminated meat from countries on its banned list could reach its borders through Poland.