Rusland belooft Polen exportboycot vlees te beëindigen (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Russia has promised to end its two-year old ban on Polish meat exports, but it remains unclear if the move will see Poland lift its veto on a new EU-Russia political agreement in return.
Russian farm minister Alexei Gordeyev made the announcement in Moscow on Wednesday (12 December) after meeting Polish counterpart, Marek Sawicki, and following Russian inspections of Polish meat firms.
The move will be formalised in a "memorandum of understanding" to be signed by the two ministers in Kaliningrad on an unspecified date next week.
"This is a good piece of news primarily for the European Commission, which has been waiting for Poland's position to change on a new Russian-EU partnership agreement for a long time," Russian news agency Interfax quoted a "Kremlin source" as saying.
The meat row saw the previous Polish government in late 2006 veto talks on the EU-Russia pact, accusing Moscow of treating ex-Communist states as though they had never broken free of its grip.
The new Polish government has made friendly gestures to Russia in recent weeks, offering fresh "consultations" on major disputes such as US plans to put missiles in Poland and a Russian project to bypass Poland with a gas pipeline to Germany.
But the meat memo would be the first concrete step in improving relations, with Poland still waiting to see if the text will exclude key products or companies that once had a big presence in the Russian market.
Fruit and vegetables
The bigger problem of Russia's ban on Polish fruit and vegetable exports also remains to be solved. Mr Gordeyev and Mr Sawicki will talk about the wider agricultural embargo at a farming fair in Berlin in February.
Russian meat trade is worth about €100 million a year to Polish farmers but fruit and vegetables are worth some €300 million, while Russian officials are already talking about exceptionally tough pesticide standards for Polish produce.
Meanwhile, Warsaw's old wariness of Russia continues to simmer under the surface, with Polish officials pushing for the European Commission to underwrite any bilateral deals.
"It was European Commission involvement over the past year that helped resolve the meat problem. It's essential the commission remains involved in the plant talks as well," one Polish source said.