Russia’s EU pork ban over swine fever outbreak hurts Irish producers

Polish agriculture minister Stanislaw Kalemba has announced his intention to step down due to the country’s problems with compensating farmers hit by concerns African swine fever (ASF) could spread from wild boars to farmed pigs.

The resignation is unlikely to threaten the stability of the ruling coalition. It is probable he will be replaced by a party colleague in the junior coalition party PSL.

“The main reason for the resignation is a lack of government actions aimed at conducting operations to fight off the effects of two cases of ASF,” said Mr Kalemba.

Ireland’s pork producers are under financial pressure due to the blanket ban Russia has put on all EU pork imports due to two ASF outbreaks reported since January — one in a herd on the Lithuanian border with Belarus, and the other in Poland.

The pork ban has created frayed relations between Brussels and Moscow, notably in heated debates at the World Trade Organ-isation. EU health chief Tonio Borg has accused Russia of overreacting, noting that Russia has had several hundred ASF outbreaks.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said Russia’s block ban on pork does not conform to the OIE’s (the international organisation for animal health) “regionalisation” rules, which allow for trade with unaffected states. The EU-Russia talks are ongoing.

“I am in agreement with the EU commission that the ban is disproportionate, as it does not respect the OIE rules on regionalisation,” he said.

“The commission services are considering instigating a WTO panel action against the Russian Federation for its non-respect of the regionalisation provision.”