The ministers of Agriculture of several EU countries (Austria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Belgium, Italy and Greece) expressed their opposition, on Tuesday 26 May, at the ‘Agriculture’ Council, to the European Commission proposal (of 21 January - https://aeur.eu/f/m1r ) to classify soya, under the Renewable Energy Directive, as a feedstock presenting a high indirect land-use change (ILUC) risk.
The proposal provides for the gradual reduction to zero of the use of soya in biodiesel production in the EU.
The Austrian minister, Norbert Totschnig, said that such a classification of soya could jeopardise “European Union self-sufficiency in plant proteins”. According to him, excluding soya produced in Europe would “seriously undermine existing value chains”, in which biodiesel production is an important outlet, accounting for up to 80% of the use of soya oil. He believes that European soya should be treated differently from soya imported from other regions of the world.
The European Commissioner for Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, said that “additional EU demand for biofuels can indirectly drive further expansion into carbon-rich land elsewhere”. For this reason, the classification applies irrespective of origin. “Exempting EU production would be legally and scientifically questionable. The impact on EU farmers is expected to be limited. Soya meal consumption in feed is not affected”, Mr Hansen concluded.
Austria’s note: https://aeur.eu/f/m1s (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)