Opinion survey shows nearly 70% of Europeans want conventional biofuels

In Belgium, Europeans overwhelmingly support the use of conventional biofuels made from crops and believe EU policy should encourage it, according to an EU-wide opinion survey released Monday by ePure. More than 69 percent of Europeans surveyed say conventional biofuels should be encouraged, while just 15 percent think they should not, according to the EuroPulse poll of 11,283 respondents in 28 EU countries. The survey also found that 68 percent of Europeans favor EU policies to support crop-based conventional biofuels, while just 12 percent are against such policies. The results are significant in light of the European Commission’s proposal to phase out the use of conventional biofuels such as European ethanol – for which its main justification is a claim that the European public opposes what Commission officials have misleadingly termed “food-based fuel.”