Policy recommendations

  • The European Union must ensure that its Energy Policy will not harm the food security of the urban and rural poor in developing countries, whose daily survival is threatened by substantially higher food prices. It should draw up a strategy to ensure the urban and rural poor are compensated for higher food prices before installing mandatory levels of biofuels;
  • The European Union should abolish its domestic subsidies and import tariffs for biofuels, in order to allow developing countries to profit from the trade opportunities biofuels offer;
  • The European Union should draw up comprehensive sustainability criteria for biofuels, including more ambitious standards for greenhouse-gas reduction a slight decrease of emissions as compared to fossil fuels is simply not enough and the protection of biodiversity and carbon-rich ecosystems;
  • The European Commission should include social criteria in its review of the Biofuels Directive to guarantee that the rural populations who live off marginal lands and forests are not hurt by expanding agricultural production;
  • The European Union should stimulate local processing and the use of sustainable biofuels in developing countries. Small-scale farmer cooperatives should be stimulated to prevent the benefits from biofuel production from only falling into the hands of large-plantation owners.

Case: Biofuels

10-10-2011 MEP Meyer calls subsidies and incentives for biofuels into question

In 2009, the European Parliament and Council adopted a renewable energy directive (RED). This directive states that 10% of transport fuel used in the EU should come from biofuels by 2020, which comes down to a doubling of the current biofuels consumption. By setting this target, the EU encourages the growing of crops for conversion to biofuels. Consequently, this means there is less land to grow crops for human consumption, leading to a reduction in food production. This in turn causes a rise of food prices as well as a rise of the number of people going hungry.

Considering the above, MEP Willy Meyer (GUE/NGL) asked the Commission in a written question if they intend to revise the RED to put an end to subsidies and incentives for biofuels. By posing this question MEP Meyer promotes the goal of the EU development policy to reduce poverty worldwide (Lisbon Treaty, Art. 208) and of the first MDG to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Fair Politics welcomes MEP Meyers question, since it stimulates the EU to strive for better Policy Coherence for Development and to stop the undermining of the EUs development objectives by its renewable energy policies. For his question, MEP Willy Meyer will be rewarded one point in our monitoring system for the Fair Politician of the Year Award.

Monitor fair: GUE/NGL


Parliamentary questions
13 July 2011 E-006547/2011

Question for written answer
to the Commission
Rule 117
Willy Meyer (GUE/NGL)

Subject: EU incentives for biofuels: the rising price of foodstuffs and increased hunger and malnutrition worldwide

At the beginning of June 2011 an international NGO of recognised standing published a report in which it pointed to current EU policy on biofuels as one of a number of factors with serious consequences for the fight against hunger.
The increased use of biofuels and their promotion via economic incentives is one of the main reasons why food prices have risen over the last few years, since subsidies to crops grown for conversion to biofuels lead to a reduction in food production for human consumption, pushing up prices.
In 2010 alone, the EU allocated over EUR 4.3 billion to incentives and subsidies for biofuel production. During the same year, some 80 million people were condemned to hunger by increases in the price of basic foodstuffs, such as maize, on which millions of human beings depend for their daily food.
Directive 2009/28/EC of Parliament and of the Council, on renewable energy, states that 10 % of fuel used in the EU should come from biofuels by 2020. This means doubling current consumption of biofuels and will lead, as scientists and social organisations are warning, to a drastic increase in food prices and in the numbers of people condemned to hunger. The incentives policy is also encouraging European companies to seek out labour and land in countries in the South, thereby adding a new source of competition for land in States which need to focus on food production to cover their populations' own food deficiencies.
Bearing in mind that the direct link between the use and subsidisation of biofuels and the increase in food prices has been shown by numerous studies, does the Commission intend to revise Directive 2009/28/EC to put an end to subsidies and incentives for biofuels?
In view of the fact that as foodstuffs become more and more controlled by market forces and the agricultural sector becomes increasingly dominated by the WTO, the number of people going hungry is also rising, does the EU intend to introduce measures and initiatives to effectively tackle price volatility, transparency, traceability and the regulation of the food market?