EU defends biofuels target against 'media storm'

The EU's farm policy chief has strongly defended Brussels' bid to boost the use of the controversial renewable energy source, biofuels, saying they are being unfairly blamed for rise in food prices around the world.

At a conference on the issue on Tuesday (6 May), Mariann Fischer Boel said: "The storm of media comment about biofuels has become louder and louder to the point where it is difficult to hear real debate above the shriek of the wind."

She indicated that broader issues such as bad weather in the main agricultural regions were contributing to the huge increases in food prices which have led to riots in several countries.

As another reason, the EU agriculture commissioner suggested the increased demand from China and India for meat products, leading to an increase in demand for cereals in the livestock sector which is hitting consumers' pockets.

"Biofuels won't solve all our problems, but nor will they swallow the world's food supply," the commissioner.

"Used correctly, they can be a weapon in the fight against climate change and an insurance policy against fuel supply problems," she said.

Ms Fischer-Boel, who comes from Denmark, also said that long-term price rises are "not an entirely bad thing."

"They could be good news for the 70 to 80 per cent of the world's poorest who live in rural areas and depend on farming for their livelihood," she said, according to AFP news agency.

The storm over biofuels has slowly gathered force since the EU last year announced it has set a target of having them account for 10 percent of transport energy by 2020.

International criticism, including from the UN, about the effect that growing biofuels could have on food prices and on in the environment in poorer countries has snowballed since the beginning of 2008.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown last month indicated that the target could be revised depending on the results of a study by the Renewable Fuels Agency due for publication next month.

For its part, the European Commission has repeatedly said it is sticking to the target, noting that the buck stops with EU leaders who made the commitment in March 2007 as well as pointing out that it will attach sustainability criteria to the biofuels it uses to achieve the target.

But it has given the appearance of being on the defensive, particularly as it has emerged that there on divisions among commissioners themselves on the issue.