June 7, 2004

 

 

Russia Reverses Decision To Halt Meat Imports From EU

 

The Russian government has agreed to reverse a decision to suspend imports of meat products from the European Union, but it was unclear when it would take effect, an E.U. spokesman said Friday.

 

European Commission President Romano Prodi reached the deal during a phone conversation with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov late Thursday, E.U. spokesman Reijo Kemppinen said.

 

"The prime minister accepted our views and promised the Russian government will stop these restrictions and will allow trade on food stuffs to continue freely from here on," Kemppinen told reporters.

 

He said E.U. officials were awaiting word from Fradkov's office confirming that Russian border and health authorities had lifted the restrictions imposed Tuesday.

 

"We are waiting for the Russian authorities and government to instruct the relevant authorities to open the borders again and to let trade flow freely and immediately without any restrictions."

 

As part of the deal, the two sides set an end-of-September deadline by which to reach an agreement to resolve Russia's concerns about the E.U.'s system of issuing veterinary certificates on meat imports.

 

Moscow had demanded the E.U. Commission itself issue a uniform certificate. Kemppinen insisted that was legally impossible, but E.U. officials suggested ways might be found to better harmonize the existing national certificates and give Moscow greater guarantees that all E.U. countries are applying the same standards.

 

At least 11 E.U. countries, including Poland, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, France, Ireland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Belgium, Austria and Latvia, reported problems since Russia began blocking E.U. beef, pork and poultry imports.

 

Kemppinen said the safety of meat products was a "top priority" for the Commission.

 

"The E.U. applies very strict measures and high standards to ensure the safety of the food we consume and the food we export to Russia," he said.

 

He again rejected Russia's contention that food safety issues led to the blocking of imports, saying Moscow had provided nothing to back up that claim.

 

"Since we don't find any problems as far as food safety is concerned, I don't know what the other problems might be," he said.

 

He added, however, that a deal reached last month supporting Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization was not in question.

 

The Commission had hinted at retaliation Thursday, threatening EUR1.3 billion in annual trade.

 

Moscow had initially intended to impose the restriction May 1 - when the E.U. expanded to take in 10 new members, most of them former Soviet satellites - but extended the deadline by a month during talks between Fradkov and Prodi.