A proposed Russian ban on European Union meat exports could jeopardize Russia's aspirations to join the World Trade organization next year, the EU trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, warned Friday. He warned that several of the 25 EU member states were growing weary of Russia's trade tactics and could move to block its WTO bid. He emphasized that the European Union supported Russia's WTO accession in principle and that he did not want to link the Russian meat ban to Russia's WTO prospects, though EU states could do so. In order to join the organization, Russia must reach agreement with each of the 149 WTO members. 'Issues like this will affect the attitude of member states toward signing off on accession,' Mandelson said. 'This is not the only trade irritant between us and Russia--there are at least half a dozen--and this latest ban is bound to affect the attitude of member states,' toward Russia's aim of joining the WTO. 'We can't have so many of these trade irritants hanging over us.' Mandelson said he would work to get Russia to back off from its current plans to ban all EU animal products as of Jan. 1, which would affect C = $ 1.7 billion, or $ 2.2 billion, in exports to Russia. Moscow has justified the ban on the grounds that Bulgaria and Romania, which will join the European Union on that day, do not have adequate food safety measures. But Mandelson warned that if Moscow refused to back down, it could sour overall trade relations with the European Union, which is already concerned about fair access to Moscow's energy resources. 'Russia is acting in a disproportionate way,' he said. President Vladimir Putin has made WTO membership one of his key economic objectives. He is keen to improve access to world markets for Russian exports and to provide a lift to the country's neglected agricultural sector. European resistance would add to reservations by trade negotiators in Washington who want Russia to make more progress on reducing tariffs on U. S. meat imports and protecting intellectual property before joining the world trade body. Trade disputes cast a shadow over the summit meeting, which was supposed to mark the start of talks on a partnership agreement between the European Union and Russia covering energy, trade and human rights. But Poland--in a separate dispute with Moscow over a Russian ban on Polish farm exports--used its veto to stop the talks on Friday. Putin defended the Russian ban after earlier complaining that the European Commission had failed to consult him before agreeing to admit Bulgaria and Romania, whose food safety practices he called into question. EU officials said privately that Putin's stance suggested he was suffering from a Cold War hangover because the former Soviet satellites will soon become EU members. What is the theme of this passage?