Baltic States – CIS, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Markets and Companies, Russia

In the opinion of the Committee, the Minister of Agriculture should stress at the meeting of the Council of the EU on Monday that the issue of trade ban with Russia concerns the unity of the EU, and remains out of the scope of agriculture policy.

"The problem should be considered in a wider security context. Lifting of trade barriers by states and product groups definitely cannot be supported because it may give Russia the possibility to pick and choose which countries they will restore the trade with," said the Chairman of the European Union Affairs Committee Kalle Palling.

Palling added that, as the trade with all states and in all product groups was restricted at the same time, the restrictions should also be lifted at the same time. "The reason given by Russia for imposing sanctions did not concern food safety regulations, it was political. Therefore the solution cannot come through food safety regulations either," Palling said.

On 7 August 2014 Russia imposed import restrictions on food products from the EU. From the foodstuffs produced in Estonia, the restrictions mostly concern dairy products. It was estimated that, in annual volume, milk and dairy products worth about 130 million euro fell under Russian embargo. The export directly to Russia was 50 million euro, export through Lithuania 50–60 million euro and through Latvia 25 million euro. The total export of food products from Estonia directly to Russia was 250 million euro in 2013.

These questions were raised at the Committee sitting in connection with the article published in the EUobserver on 21 January.

At the 26 January sitting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council, Estonia's positions will be presented by the Minister of Agriculture Ivari Padar.