BELGIUM: Jose Manuel Barroso to demand at Summit that Russia lift Polish ban

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso vowed to demand at a summit with Russia on Friday (November 24) that Moscow lift a ban on imports of Polish meat, a Commission spokeswoman said on Thursday (November 23). The European Union executive also said its experts had reported improvements in Poland's veterinary controls that made the Russian embargo unwarranted. "President Barroso said that he considers this import ban to be disproportionate and that it is an overreaction on the Russian part and he indicated that he will ask president Putin at the summit to lift the ban as a matter of urgency, reassuring prime minister Kaczynski that negotiations can be suspended if vital interests of a member state are being jeopardized," spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde-Hansen told a news briefing. She said Barroso telephoned Polish prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski on Wednesday (November 22) to express full solidarity and promise help to get the year-old embargo lifted, as EU president Finland worked to persuade Warsaw to lift its veto on the launch of talks on a new EU-Russia partnership agreement at the summit. The Commission said that according to preliminary findings of a team of EU experts sent to Poland urgently this week, the country's food safety and certification standards are high enough to make the embargo unjustified. "Considerable and good progress has been made by Poland, to such an extent that the Commission reiterates its position that an embargo by Russia against Polish animal and plant products is disproportionate," spokesman Philip Tod told the same news briefing. He reiterated the EU executive would like to be involved in technical negotiations on Polish food standards, although Russia has said repeatedly the issue must be resolved bilaterally.

ITN Source | November 24, 2006

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