BioWorld International Correspondent

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Europe's senior research official has put his weight behind the future of biofuels in the increasingly bitter debate in Brussels on the potential of that emerging technology.

European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potoènik told industry leaders, "If produced and used sensibly, biomass used for fuel can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It can also be used to reclaim degraded land, reduce erosion, stabilize slopes and improve water retention and water quality."

His comments came amid a growing polarization of opinion in Europe over the merits of biofuels, which some leading European figures have condemned in recent weeks as a dangerous and deluded path to follow in pursuit of sustainable energy. He saluted the work of the European Biofuels Technology Platform, which brings together the agriculture and forestry sectors, food, paper and biotechnology industry, biofuels industry, oil companies, car manufacturers, universities and researchers to promote research into the development of Europe's use of biofuels.

That grouping is scheduled to present a strategic research agenda on Jan. 31, which will provide a long-term view on how to overcome the technical and nontechnical challenges of sustainable use of biofuels in Europe, and which sets a 70 percent target for carbon emission savings.

"The increased use of biofuels will need to be accompanied by technological developments," conceded Potoènik, who is keen to see the right balance between existing first-generation biofuels and the upcoming second-generation.

The EU proposed further drastic new measures to boost production of energy from renewable sources on Jan. 23. The proposed directive gives its backing to second-generation biofuels, but stresses that the next generation of biofuels depends on the success of the first.

The proposal won acclaim from the European biotech industry. "Encouraging technological development for both first- and second-generation biofuels is crucial to meeting the targets," said Kirsten Birkegaard Stær, chair of EuropaBio's biofuels working group.

"Europe needs to act now to deliver sustainable, secure and competitive energy," he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the powerful Polish lobby for a GM-free Europe, the International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside, encouraged by French President Nicolas Sarkozy's moves to ban GM crops in his country, is stepping up pressure for an EU-wide moratorium.

The Polish organization cites approvingly the reservations expressed recently by EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas about GM technology, and the prohibitions being maintained by Austria, Greece and Hungary to specific GM plants.

But it is conscious that Poland's status as a GM-free country is itself under renewed threat from the new government, since the recently appointed minister for agriculture, Marek Sawicki, said in Brussels that he would not enforce the ban on GM animal feeds that the previous government had scheduled for implementation this year. He is also on record as applauding the disease-resistant characteristics of GM plants as a potential benefit for the country's farmers.

"If Poland were to also dig her heels in and refuse to capitulate to corporate and EU pressures, the balance might well be tipped decisively in our favor and the bureaurocrats would no longer be able to impose their will on the citizens of Europe," said the coalition's Julian Rose.