Posted By: Mark Thatcher

By ROBERT WIELAARD, Associated Press WriterSun Nov 12, 7:01 AM ET

BRUSSELS, Belgium - European Union foreign ministers will consider proposals on Monday for building closer ties with Russia, but they face a possible veto from Poland unless Moscow ends a ban on Polish meat imports and commits to an international energy trade pact.

The EU is preparing a wide-ranging economic cooperation deal with Russia to replace a 1997 accord. EU officials hope a Nov. 24 summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki will lead to the opening of negotiations.

Poland, however, is threatening to block progress unless Moscow commits to supply Russian gas and oil under fairer trade rules and guarantees transit rights to energy supplies from countries such as Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan.

"We feel very unsafe in terms of energy supplies," Polish Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak said Friday in Warsaw.

Poland also insists that Russia lift a yearlong import ban on Polish meat and some other food products. Moscow said the Polish goods were substandard, but Warsaw said the ban was politically motivated after bilateral relations soured over Warsaw's support for democratic change in Ukraine in 2004

Increasingly dependent on Russian gas and oil imports, the EU is pushing Putin to sign up to an international energy charter that would make it easier for foreign companies to invest in Russia's energy sector and provide legal guarantees for investors

In effect since 1998, the charter has been signed by more than 50 countries, including Russia. But Moscow is dragging its heels on ratifying it — Putin again refused to do so when he met with EU leaders last month. His reluctance is seen by many as an attempt to guard Russian energy resources for domestic companies while keeping foreign rivals out.

As it awaits Russian ratification of the international deal, EU officials want to fold fair trade and investment principles on energy into the new bilateral cooperation agreement.

Russia provides 30 percent of EU energy imports and 44 percent of gas imports, according to EU data. But EU officials say Russia is also dependent on European markets and needs technological and financial support from the West to fully exploit its vast resources. The energy sector produces more than 25 percent of Russia's economic output and more than 60 percent of the oil and gas Russia exports goes to the EU.

"I have to be frank, there is some work to be done in building up mutual confidence," EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs told an EU-Russia energy conference in Moscow on Oct. 30.

"Long-term contracts for natural gas can facilitate the investments that need to be undertaken to meet future demand," he said. "Such contracts create the creditworthiness that attracts both Russian and European investors."

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