E. coli and Russia’s WTO bid
Russia and the European Union are sparring over how Moscow has responded to the European E. coli scare. Last week, the EU’s man in Moscow criticized a blanket Russian ban on vegetables imported from Europe as being incompatible with the spirit of the World Trade Organization. Vladimir Putin, not known to be enthusiastic about the ...
Russia and the European Union are sparring over how Moscow has responded to the European E. coli scare. Last week, the EU's man in Moscow criticized a blanket Russian ban on vegetables imported from Europe as being incompatible with the spirit of the World Trade Organization. Vladimir Putin, not known to be enthusiastic about the WTO in any case, fired back:
Russia and the European Union are sparring over how Moscow has responded to the European E. coli scare. Last week, the EU’s man in Moscow criticized a blanket Russian ban on vegetables imported from Europe as being incompatible with the spirit of the World Trade Organization. Vladimir Putin, not known to be enthusiastic about the WTO in any case, fired back:
The EU says Russia’s decision contradicts the spirit of the WTO, but we can’t poison people because of some spirit. I openly admit I don’t know what spirit is being contradicted … But when people are dying from eating cucumbers, then something stinks.
The squabble comes just days before a Russia-EU meeting designed to smooth the way for Russia’s long-awaited WTO accession.
David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist
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