Ireland has stood firm with its EU colleagues in rejecting overtures from Russia to agree a bilateral deal on beef exports.
Despite Russia's threat to ban all EU meat imports - a trade worth €40 million annually to Ireland - Taoiseach Bertie Ahern insisted Ireland would not go it alone.
He told reporters at the EU summit in Brussels: "This is a European matter. The commission will carry out the negotiations and deal directly with the Russians".
The issue has put the Government in a difficult position. If the ban comes into effect there will a backlash from the agriculture sector, but a bilateral deal is likely to be against EU law.
The Russians have banned Polish meat imports and are unwilling to accept imports from Bulgaria and Romania when they join the EU in the new year over food safety concerns.
However, it wants to agree deals with Ireland and Germany separately which, at a minimum contravenes EU policy and would anger other member states.
A German Agriculture Ministry spokeswoman denied a report that Berlin had signed a deal with Moscow but said it wanted an EU-wide solution this month.
Moscow also approached Italy, Lithuania and The Netherlands while Denmark, a major pigmeat exporter, was also expected to be on its list, EU officials said.
Despite the backing for Poland in its long-running dispute with Russia over meat exports, there was no clear sign Warsaw would agree to drop its veto on talks between the EU and the Russia for a broad co-operation agreement.
Additional reporting Reuters