By Anne-France White - 24th November 2006
The EU and Russia hold a long-awaited summit in Helsinki, but the meeting is expected to be overshadowed by continuing European divisions.
Despite a week of frantic negotiations, Poland has still not lifted its veto on the launch of new partnership talks with Russia, saying it will not do so until Moscow drops an embargo on Polish foods.
Poland rejected a Finnish EU presidency compromise on a statement demanding an urgent lifting of Moscow's ban on imports of Polish meat and other food products.
Warsaw says Russia is using the food ban as a political device to divide east and west EU members.
But speaking on the eve of the summit, Russian president Vladimir Putin defended Russia's ban as a "technical problem" not linked to "political tricks" and called for talks to resolve the issue.
Poland also wants Moscow to ratify the Energy Charter Treaty, an international agreement on energy investment and transport that Russia signed in 1994.
The standoff is likely to cause a fiasco at the summit, which was intended to centre around the launch of the negotiations on the new EU-Russia agreement.
The current agreement is reaching the end of its initial ten-year period next year, and the EU is intent on developing stronger links with Russia, an increasingly crucial trade partner.
The strategic partnership agreement is due to cover energy, trade, political cooperation, human rights and migration.
But the dispute with Poland has highlighted splits within the EU on policy towards Russia – which accounts for around a third of EU energy imports and is a major market for European companies.
The Polish move is a political embarrassment for the 25-nation EU, which will be unable to speak with a single voice at today’s meeting with Putin.
The standoff over trade is likely to lead the summit meeting to focus on other – equally controversial – areas.
There is likely to be an exchange of concerns over human rights, with the EU raising worries about democracy in Russia and Moscow voicing criticism of rights abuses against ethnic Russians in the Baltic states.
Russia will be under growing pressure following the death of after Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy who was allegedly poisoned while investigating the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
The EU and Russia are also at an impasse over energy and investment ties.
The EU wants Russia to open up its energy markets to European investment, but Moscow is accusing the EU of not offering anything in return.
Russia has also dismissed EU calls to ratify the Energy Charter Treaty.
"It is more important than ever before that the EU and Russia have a clear and common understanding of their mutual interests in the field of energy," Barroso said ahead of the meeting.
EU and Russian leaders are also expected to address international issues such as the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea, tensions in the Middle East and the ongoing diplomatic crisis between Russia and Georgia.
"The EU has repeatedly urged a de-escalation of tension between Moscow and Tbilisi including the lifting by Russia of measures against Georgia," the European Commission said in a statement on Thursday.
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