EU mulls WTO complaint on Russian embargo
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
21.08.2014 09:54
The European Commission says it is weighing up a request by Poland to lodge an official complaint with the World Trade Organisation after Russia slapped a ban on food imports from the EU.
Photo: sxc.hu
“We received a letter from Poland, we are now looking at it, we are looking at what is possible and what is not possible under WTO rules, before we take any decision,” EC spokesperson Chantal Hughes said on Wednesday after Poland's economy ministry sent a request to European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht on the issue.
After Russia initially banned Polish fruit and vegetables from entering the country it widened the embargo last week to cover all food stuffs from the EU in retaliation against widening sanctions imposed by Brussels.
The EU said earlier this week that it will be compensating Polish and other European farmers affected by the import ban.
But Poland – who, alongside Lithuania is the biggest exporter of food to Russia from the EU - wants tougher measures imposed on Moscow, including taking the matter to the World Trade Organisation, a body Moscow joined in august 2012 after 18 years of negotiations.
According to the Reuters news agency, however, the European Commission has so far been cautious about taking the embargo case to the WTO, with lawyers in Brussels advising that doing so could escalate the conflict with Russia over Ukraine. (pg)