EU Commissioner says no deal reached with Russia on Polish exports

EU Commissioner for Health Marcos Kyprianou has said that no deal has been reached between the EU and Russia regarding Moscow‘s refusal to lift the embargo it imposed on meat imports from Poland.
Kyprianou has been holding over the weekend talks here with Russian Minister for Agriculture Alexey Gordeev in an effort to find the golden mean on the issue.
When asked by Reuters Sunday if a deal had been reached, he replied “no”.
During talks Saturday both parts were optimistic that a deal could be reached.
EU officials had hoped for an agreement, that would pave the way for the EU to launch talks on a new cooperation pact with Moscow covering energy, trade, economic cooperation and rights, which Poland has been blocking.
Kyprianou said that the talks were being held in a very good atmosphere and good will.
“Of course we discussed the issue of Polish exports to the Russian Federation. We are struggling to find solutions but we haven’t finished yet. We will continue the talks and see how to achieve the best results for both EU and Russian Federation, but off course it’s the outcome that counts”, the Commissioner said.
Kyprianou noted that the goal is to reach a progress the soonest possible and before the EU – Russian Summit.
He stressed that trade is a very important aspect that affects political cooperation as well.
“The EU is a union of solidarity and as a result, the rest 26 EU members and the European Commission support Poland in the effort to reach a solution because we do not consider it to be a Polish problem, but a European one”, he continued.
In his statements, the Russian Minister said that he met with Commissioner Kyprianou for the third time to discuss the Polish issue.
“Just as in the past we are in the position to identify mutual acceptable solutions”, he said.
The Russian Minister noted that the talks had been held in a friendly atmosphere in an effort “to identify solutions”.