Addressing the audience at the opening keynote session of the World Biofuels Markets Congress in Brussels today (13th March) Mariann Fischer Boel, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said that, "no policy u-turns lie ahead" for the EU as far as biofuels were concerned. She acknowledged that there is widely divided opinion, but she said that EU policy was clear and that it would go forward.

She urged all involved to look carefully at the EU's stance. The EU, she said is developing a wide framework to cover future energy needs. Biofuels is by no means the only show in town,  she said, we do want new fuel, but we also want other renewables to make up the mix. Biofuels represent only a small part of what we can do with biomass.

It is a community wide project which needs the support of all member states, said Fischer Boel. "Only if we move together can we make second generation biofuels economically viable." Moreover, if the EU didn't come together on this it would lead to a fragmented internal market and the long term security of supply will not be secured.

Ms Fischer Boel recognized that there was opposition to biofuels and specially first generation fuels. "We take objections very seriously", she said, "first generation biofuels don't all give a positive return , but many do. We need to use the first generation fuels as a bridge and we need to step bravely on to that bridge."

In closing Ms Fischer Boel suggested that EU biofuel policy was neither madness or genius, but a realistic policy for the future of biofuels in the EU. Biofuels were not a magic tool, but they were valuable and we had to learn to use them in the right way.

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