Willem Schuth, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – (DE) Mr President, Commissioner, rapporteur, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to start by offering my sincere congratulations to Mr Parish on this balanced report, which my group expressly supports. The development of non-food crops offers EU farmers the opportunity of developing new markets, and therefore support and research are vital in this field. The use of renewable raw materials and renewable energy production both represent an enormous potential for European rural areas. I hail from the rural German Land of Lower Saxony. For us in Lower Saxony, in particular, bioenergy is vital as an alternative source of income for farmers and foresters. In some fields, especially biogas, for which we have around 430 plants, we are already leading the field in Europe.

At this point, I should like to say that I also expressly welcome the Commission’s latest initiatives in this field: the Biomass Action Plan and the Commission Communication on Biofuels. Parliament will renew its efforts with regard to the EU Strategy for Biofuels within the framework of an own-initiative report. The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, too, will draw up an opinion on this. As draftsman of this opinion, I shall be glad to be able to build upon the good work accomplished by my colleague Mr Parish.