YEKATERINBURG, June 4 (RIA Novosti) – Russia and the European Union have agreed on joint work to overcome disagreements in mutual trade, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.
“We discussed mutual trade claims involving [car] recycling fees, EU anti-dumping measures, sanitary and phytosanitary norms,” Putin said after this year’s EU-Russia summit came to an end in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
“We have agreed to work constructively and jointly to reach mutually acceptable solutions,” Putin said.
The EU has been outraged by Moscow’s recent move to introduce a disposal fee on car imports, arguing that the charge would be a protectionist measure under the guise of environmental recycling to shield domestic car producers from increasing competition after Russia joined the World Trade Organization last year.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said after the summit that the EU hoped Russia would introduce an equal recycling charge for imported and domestically produced cars by July.
A car recycling fee is currently paid on the imports of new and used cars into Russia, while domestic automakers only have to provide guarantees of safe car disposals in the future.
Russia’s Economics Ministry said in February that it would make domestic automakers pay the same fee as foreign manufacturers. The Russian government earlier submitted a bill to parliament to oblige Russian automakers to pay the recycling fee.
An EU source said last week that the European Union would file a claim with the WTO if Russia failed to enact legislation making car disposal charges equal for domestic and foreign producers.
Putin also said Russia and the European Union would continue looking for a compromise on Europe’s Third Energy Package.
“There are unresolved problems in this area, but we continue our contacts and will further search for mutually acceptable solutions,” Putin said, adding that Russia and the EU had signed a roadmap in March 2013 for energy cooperation until 2050.
The EU’s third package of legislation for electricity and gas markets aims to separate production and supply from transmission networks, facilitate cross-border trade in energy, increase the effectiveness of national regulators, and promote cross-border collaboration and investment, greater market transparency on network operation and supply, as well as increased solidarity among the EU member states.
The Third Energy Package particularly affects the operations of Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom, which produces and sells gas and owns transportation facilities.
