Brussels, March 24 - Europe's food safety chief warned on Monday of renewed tensions with Russia over fruit and vegetable exports, saying European Union countries should guard against attempts at 'fragmentation' across its 27 countries.
Italy has complained that Russia is making extra demands for import standards exceeding an EU-Russia agreement signed in 2008 that was supposed to end a long-running row over pesticide residues in EU plant products, especially fruit and vegetables.
But Russian experts had also carried out a series of inspections in EU countries with a view to signing bilateral deals that added extra requirements -- and threatening to suspend trade with a particular country if they were not signed.
Russia had complained that, with their shipments, EU exporters were breaking residue limits set by Russian law but which were in line with EU limits, Italy said. EU maximum residue limits are set much higher than Russia's equivalents.
In a paper circulated to EU farm ministers, Italy said that to enforce Russia's demands would need a production, marketing and control system that "adds nothing in terms of plant product safety and would in fact be extremely expensive both for food business operators and the phytosanitary authorities."
EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said Europe should guard against country 'fragmentation' since the 2008 EU-Russia memorandum of understanding (MoU) already governed pesticide residue requirements for EU plant exports to Russia.
"The Italian concerns point to a risk that we face, once again, of serious trade difficulties in our relations with the Russian Federation," Vassiliou told the EU farm ministers.
"The Commission intends to maintain the dialogue with the Russian control authorities, as it has always done, and to maintain the entity of the Union -- that is, to guard against fragmentation, as well as to ensure smooth trade for all member states with Russia," she said.
Latvia and the Netherlands were also believed to have received similar approaches by Russia, EU officials said.
The extra measures demanded by Russia, she said, went against the spirit of the MoU because reponsibility would move from professional exporters to national authorities.
The EU-Russia memorandum was signed in March 2008 by the European Commission, representing the EU, to end a long-running dispute -- particularly between Russia and Poland.
Moscow had imposed a ban on Polish farm shipments saying they had forged certificates although Warsaw always insisted that the restrictions were politically motivated.
"Most of the levels required by the Russian inspection service are in breach of the provisions of the 2008 MoU and are not scientifically justified," Vassiliou told the ministers.
"In this context, bilateral agreements not respecting the provisions of the original MoU of 2008 cannot be considered as a viable means to safeguard their exports," she said.