Dealing with the Wild Bear
On the eve of the EU-Russia summit in Samara, Russia, the 27-country bloc prepares to play the game of diplomacy as it hopes to press Russia on the unfair trade between disgruntled EU states and Russia especially if the latter is counting on EU support to join the World Trade Organization.
But the summit will probably finish without any agreement as it did last November.
Poland threatens to veto an EU-Russia partnership pact because of the ban on Polish meat. Some Russian businesses imposed an effective ban on Estonian goods in response to that country’s decision to move a Soviet-era war memorial, while Lithuania might veto the partnership pact because Russia has cut off oil to the Mazeikiu refinery 10 months ago, alleging the pipeline has sprung a leak.
Here in Latvia, two largest producers of sprats still have no access to the Russian market even though Russia officially lifted the blanket ban.
Russia has successfully used different opinions within the EU to its advantage by crafting bilateral agreements with larger member states and neglecting smaller. So it’s important for the 27 member states, or German presidency, to stand up to the Wacky Neighbor to the East during the summit. Russia blames the EU newcomers for the ruckus, yet it’s rather suspicious that Russia quarrels with its former subjects.
One business owner here said that doing business with Russia is quite different from Europe. Russia is often unpredictable — something that Europe needs to realize. Russia indeed is a different animal from Europe. No one would know it better than countries forced to spend years in the same house with Russia.
And Brussels began waking up to the notion. No one in the EU bought an argument that Estonians were “re-writing history of World War II,” or that they “desecrated Soviet graves” when the government decided to move the Soviet-era monument.
Back in October, Russia banned Latvian sprats from the Russian market citing hygiene concerns, even though the product met stricter EU standards. In January, the ban was lifted, but the two largest producers of the tinned delicious fish were left in the cold. Their export license was indefinitely suspended.
Unlike the Russian unofficial ban of Estonian goods or the Polish meat, the Russian inaction regarding the two Latvian fish companies resembled more of an act of protectionism than a political vendetta, especially now that Latvia ratified the border agreement.
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