EU urges end to veggie ban as E coli clouds Russia summit

Jun 9, 2011, 12:48 GMT

Moscow/Brussels - The European Union expects Russia to lift a ban on the bloc's vegetables 'as quickly as possible' and will not accept a more limited embargo targeting the European countries most affected by the E coli outbreak, EU officials said Thursday.

'We consider the measures taken in this case to be disproportionate,' European Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde said in Brussels as an EU-Russia summit got underway in the west Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod.

'We expect our Russian partners to find a solution as quickly as possible,' Ahrenkilde said.

The EU argues that the ban contradicts World Trade Organization (WTO) rules - a subject expected to overshadow the summit.

But Russia says the embargo is justified until scientists determine what exactly is spreading the virulent enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) bacterium, which has killed at least 30 people and sickened thousands more in Europe.

'We need to get from our European colleagues accurate answers as quickly as possible to our questions raised on the definition of this strain, its nature and what measures are being taken to limit its spread,' said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich, according to Interfax.

'Then all the issues can be resolved,' he said.

Spanish cucumbers and German bean sprouts have both come under suspicion as potential EHEC carriers, but were later exonerated by laboratory tests. The search for the cause of the contamination goes on.

Gennady Onishchenko, head of the Russian public health service, has so far stood firm on banning all EU vegetables but potatoes, calling the outbreak situation 'not clear' and 'worrying.'

'All they (the EU) has to do, is tell us where the disease is, where it's coming from,' he said. 'Tell us that, and we can change our position immediately.'

The outbreak has been centred in northern Germany. A spokesman for EU Health Commissioner John Dalli on Thursday rejected a reporter's suggestion that the Russian ban could be narrowed to cover just Germany.

'To be very clear, in commercial matters the EU is a whole,' Frederic Vincent said. 'Any approach aimed at having different fronts on this subject is not welcome on our end.'

Also at the two-day summit in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia was expected to make an aggressive push for greater access to EU energy markets.

Sergei Prikhodko, a senior adviser to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, argued that despite an EU commitment to free and open trade, Russian energy companies face real barriers in buying capacity for European energy distribution.

Euroatom, the European Atomic Energy Community, is another sore point, Prikhodko told the Interfax news agency, because it discourages the use of Russian-produced nuclear fuel.

Russia and the EU have also butted heads over recent EU energy reforms meant to boost competition and efficiency by, among other methods, forcing firms that sell energy to loosen their grip on pipelines and power grids.

Russia sees that as an attack on its major players, such as Gazprom. It has warned that the reforms could endanger the planned South Stream gas pipeline, which is meant to supply Russian gas to Italy and Austria via the Black Sea.

Russia is the EU's third-largest trading partner and its biggest energy supplier. The EU is by far Russia's largest export market, according to EU data.

Other issues on Thursday's agenda, according to Russian media, include EU visa policy and Russia's bid for WTO membership.

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