EC warns of serious consequences of Russian pork import ban

18-Feb-2014 - Last updated on 18-Feb-2014 at 10:53 GMT

EC claims "serious consequences" from Russian pork ban

Related tags Eu European union Livestock Pork

A Russian ban on European pork imports is having serious consequences, the European Union (EU) health commissioner Tonio Borg warned last night (Monday) in Brussels. “The price of meat in Europe is going down and the price of meat in Russia is going up,” he told journalists after an EU Council of Ministers agricultural meeting. “There has been a 35-40% increase in the price of pork in Russia,” he added, insisting that it was in the “mutual interest” of the EU and Russia to reach a solution as soon as possible – to stop the ban from harming consumers, the economy and the agricultural sector overall.

According to Borg, a number of Russian meat-processing companies have even written to their government urging them to lift the ban, but it has had no impact. On behalf of the European Commission, Borg said he had attended a number of meetings with Russian officials, sent numerous letter and even expressed his willingness to go to Moscow, but had still not seen the political will to remove the ban. “And it takes two to tango,” he added.

When asked by globalmeatnews.com whether he thought the recent tightening of health controls on Russian and Belarus livestock lorries entering the EU might have aggravated the diplomatic row, Borg alluded to the EU’s obligation to help member states control their borders. “We feel it is even more unjust that there should be this ban, as it came from outside the EU,” he said, referring to how the African swine fever (ASF) cases detected in Lithuania almost certainly came from wild board roaming across the Belarus border. “I don’t think the EU has done anything to prevent a solution,” he insisted. “On the contrary, we have been very diplomatic and patient.”

Meanwhile, the commissioner told journalists that Polish government representatives had detected one more case of ASF in a wild boar in Poland, but that there was no reason to panic and that this still was not an excuse to “justify a ban on the entire EU”.

The commissioner also said a technical meeting was planned for Thursday (20 February) to take stock of the current situation. “There are other things we are doing, such as better surveillance and financial assistance,” he assured.

For Borg, ASF is a “disastrous disease that has no cure” and needs radical measures to be eradicated. “It is a dangerous disease for the pig population”, he said.

According to the Commission, the EU exports more than €5m-worth of pig meat per day – 20% of its pigmeat exports or 700,000 tonnes.