05/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - In a press release, the European Committee on Biofuels (CEB) expresses the hope that the European Commission will, on 7 November, adopt its two new proposals (see EUROPE of 28 July, and 25 September). The proposals aim to: - compel Member States to reserve part of the biofuels market from 2005; - amend an existing directive on excise duties in order to allow Member States that so wish to grant tax reductions for fuels containing biofuels. The CEB recalls that the adoption of these proposals has already been postponed twice. According to professional agricultural circles, the European Commission is aware of how urgent it is to reduce the EU's energy dependency after the oil crisis in the year 2000, and apparently this time is determined to come to a conclusion on the biofuel issue.