MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti economic commentator Vladislav Grinkevich) - The last barriers blocking the way of Polish meat to Russia are gone.
At a meeting in the suburbs of Kaliningrad, the two sides signed a memo lifting a ban on Polish meat supplies.
A two-year-long meat war has come to an end. Russian Minister of Agriculture Alexei Gordeyev attributed this lengthy confrontation to politics.
On December 19, Sergei Dankvert, the head of Rosselkhoznadzor (the Russian agricultural watchdog) and the chief of Polish veterinary service Eva Lech signed a memo lifting a two-year-long ban on Polish meat exports to Russia. "We guarantee that Russia will receive only quality products. The imports of produce from third countries and abuses on behalf of unscrupulous business will be completely prohibited," Minister Gordeyev said.
Russia banned Polish meat exports in November 2005. The Ministry of Agriculture explained this decision by crude violations of veterinary laws and false billing. In other words, Moscow accused Warsaw of being a transshipment point for unhealthy meat supplies from third countries. Moscow also outlawed direct shipments of Polish vegetables. Poland could take its vegetables to Russia but only after their quality was endorsed by sanitary agencies of third countries. Russia explained at once that these limitations were strictly technical and to remove them it was enough to revalidate the licenses of the suppliers.
The Polish partners blamed the issue on politics and retaliated at the earliest opportunity. On the eve of the Russia-EU summit in November 2006, Poland vetoed the start of the talks on a new agreement on partnership and cooperation between Russia and the European Union. Polish policymakers also threatened to create all kinds of obstacles for Russia's entry into the WTO.
But it transpired before long that bilateral confrontation hit Poland harder than Russia. The absence of Polish meat went almost unnoticed in the Russian food market because Russia primarily imports meat from the United States, Brazil and Argentine. In the meantime, the Polish farmers were losing up to $30 million per month. Even before the new government came to power, representatives of the Polish Peasant Party expressed their readiness to accept all the Russian terms.
These terms were very simple - Russia insisted on check-ups of Polish suppliers. But the Kaczynski cabinet did not find them acceptable and the Polish Foreign Ministry brushed all Russian arguments aside by repeating the same statement: "Only the lifting of the embargo will make it possible for Russian veterinary services to conduct various check-ups."
Everything changed with the advent of the new government headed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Polish Minister of Agriculture Marek Sawicki from the Peasant Party immediately declared his readiness to fulfill the terms of the Russian side and in mid-November the first group of Russian experts went to Poland to revalidate the licenses of Polish suppliers of meat and dairy products.
They conducted more than 60 inspections at 60 Polish factories in one month - from November 14 to December 14. Even before this mission was completed, Gordeyev and Sawicki agreed that a ban on meat supplies from Poland would be lifted after the veterinary agencies of both countries signed a relevant memo."
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
