Biofuel Production In The UK And The Proposed Trade Agreement With Mercosur

EDM number 1373 in 2003-04, proposed by HELEN CLARK on 22/06/2004.

That this House welcomes the Government's acceptance of an amendment to the Energy Bill [Lords] to establish a road transport fuel obligation; notes however, that the European Commission has made an offer to the Mercosur countries, including Brazil, for duty-free access into the EU for one million tonnes of ethanol per annum; further notes that current total EU ethanol consumption in road fuel is only about 400,000 tonnes per annum and that none of this is yet in the UK; further notes that if this agreement goes through this will deter investment in a nascent domestic industry in the UK and deny the UK the benefits of such an industry; and urges the Government to press the European Commission to negotiate a deal that would offer a concession to Mercosur for a small proportion of the EU's annual road fuel bioethanol consumption, to be introduced no earlier than 2007, thereby allowing a domestic industry to develop in the UK.

This motion has been signed by a total of 34 MPs.