Ireland must not accept Russian demands for a one-to-one deal to protect millions of euro worth of Irish beef sales, regardless of the importance of the contract, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has warned.
Acknowledging the importance of the sales to Irish farmers, Mr Ahern said the EU must negotiate as a whole and not be isolated one at a time by Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Moscow has threatened to cut off EU meat sales to Russia from January 1st, though it has approached several EU states, including Ireland, to agree bilateral deals.
"The right way of dealing with this is on a European basis. There has to be European solidarity in it. Russian beef is important to us, with 28,000 tonnes [of sales]. It is important, but that's not the issue.
"It has to be dealt with on the basis of European solidarity and that is what we will support."
The Russians, flush with revenues from higher oil and gas prices, are increasingly using strong-arm tactics diplomatically, he agreed. "That is a concern going forward."
Later, he added: "But the only way of dealing with them is on a European basis. If Europe starts getting chipped off into various categories it will be very, very bad.
"Russia is in a far stronger position than they have been for a long number of years. That is where it is going to test the mettle of European negotiators."
So far, the Russians have approached Ireland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania and the Netherlands for one-to-one arrangements, a move that has been strongly criticised by the European Commission.
