Poland says may withdraw veto on EU-Russia pact soon

WARSAW, Nov 24 (Reuters) Poland may withdraw within days a veto that has blocked the launch of a pact between the European Union and Russia and cast a shadow over a summit with President Vladimir Putin, a senior Polish official said today.

Warsaw blocked consensus on a negotiating mandate yesterday, spurning a compromise offered by the EU's Finnish Presidency on a statement demanding an urgent lifting of Moscow's ban on imports of Polish meat and other food products.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski's foreign policy adviser Andrzej Krawczyk said however a compromise could still be found even though the summit is due to start in Helsinki later today.

''I will not hide that our scenario until yesterday was to strike a deal before the summit and we are also disappointed that it did not happen,'' he told Polish public radio.

''But there is nothing dramatic in it...I believe we will come to agreement a few days from now. There is willingness on the Polish side to do so,'' he said.

The strategic partnership agreement is due to cover energy, trade, political cooperation, human rights and migration. Russia supplies about 30 per cent of the EU's energy.

The Polish move, dramatising latent hostility between Warsaw and its former Soviet master, was a political embarrassment for the 25-nation EU, which will be unable to speak with a single voice at today's meeting with Putin.

Despite some criticism from abroad, the veto won broad bypartisan support in Poland. Both leftist and centre-right opposition members said Poland had no choice but to keep a tough stance towards Russia.

Donald Tusk, leader of the centre-right Civic Platform, the ruling Law and Justice party's main rival, sent a letter with congratulations to the prime minister.

''The position of Poland's government deserves common support,'' said Daniel Rotfeld, a former leftist foreign minister.

Krawczyk said that even if talks drew out, he was certain a compromise would be found before the end of 2006 when the current agreement between Russia and the EU formally expires.

REUTERS DKA HT1655