Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-07-01-Speech-1-069"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2002-07-01"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Biofuels2
dcterms:Language	"nl"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20020701.5.1-069"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2002-07-01-Speech-1-0702
lpv:speaker	lp:Albert Jan Maat2
lpv:spokenAs	member; Delegation to the EU-Kazakhstan, EU-Kyrgyzstan and EU-Uzbekistan Parliamentary Cooperation Committees and Delegation for relations with Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia (2002-02-07--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 member; EPP-ED (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 unknown; Christen Democratisch Appèl (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 vice-chair; Temporary committee on foot and mouth disease (2002-02-21--2002-12-17)3 vice-chair; AGRI (2002-01-22--2004-07-19)3 substitute; PECH (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3
lpv:translated text	"Mr President, will European farmers move into the same league as the oil sheikhs of Kuwait, producing fuels in the same way with the same profit margins? I do not believe the latter will be the case, but I am very grateful to our Commissioner, Mrs de Palacio, for the fact that she has nevertheless dared to table a proposal in order to examine whether we can promote the production of biofuels, and particularly their use. In actual fact, we have come full circle. As we have seen in the past, as our draught horses on the fields were replaced by machines, so we will witness, if it were up to me, European farmers using tractors and machinery that mainly run on biofuels, which happen to be produced on the farm. If we can achieve this, then we will have made a huge step forward. I am pleased that my amendments to reduce the rate of excise duty to zero, or at least offer this opportunity, and not only a 50% reduction, have been adopted in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. I would like to ask the Commissioner whether it is indeed true that the Finance Ministers have also said that a total excise exemption for biofuels might well be possible. Another point is the use of rapeseed and cold-pressed rapeseed oil. There are, of course, suggestions that these raw materials might be imported, but it seems to me that if we want to become less dependent on the import of fuels in particular, then we must expressly include the clause that total excise exemption is only granted for the production of biofuels in the European Union. This seems to be quite essential, in my view, also for the European countryside, and offers us good prospects for a new, hi-tech rural development policy. What could be finer than to expand the second pillar for the production and cultivation of biofuels of rapeseed but also other raw materials, precisely for fuels? I would welcome it with open arms if the Commission were to work out further applications on this score and, especially, if it were to impose further obligations on the Member States in order to meet this objective. That would include those Member States that have a very poor score in this area. And I would add that my country, among others, does not score very well at all in this matter. I have high expectations of our current Commissioner, Mrs de Palacio, and hope that she has an opportunity to enforce these objectives more forcefully on the Member States."@en1

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