SLOVAKIA SUPPORTS EU BIOFUELS TARGET

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000424 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/ERA MATTHEW BEH AND OES/EGC DREW NELSON E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KGHG EAGR SENV ENRG TRGY TBIO EUN SIPDIS LO SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA SUPPORTS EU BIOFUELS TARGET REF: STATE 99217 ¶1. Econoff conveyed reftel points separately to Ministry of Economy (MinEc) officials Juraj Novak, Chief State Counsellor, Energy and Raw Materials Policy Department, and Martin Pitorak, Senior State Counsellor, Energy Section, Department of International Relations in Energy. The GoS generally supports the attempt by the French to achieve final approval of the EU "20-20-20 by 2020" Climate and Energy Package by the end of the year. MinEc has the lead on the Renewable Energy Directive while the Ministry of Environment leads on the other parts of the package. ¶2. Novak and Pitorak are both concerned the EU Climate and Energy Package might be delayed into next year. They do not share the reservations of their V-4 Polish counterparts regarding the Renewable Energy Directive. They see this portion of the package as the least controversial part, stating all GoS ministries support a 10 percent target for alternative fuels by 2020. MinEc officials claim Slovakia is prepared to meet the directive conditioned upon the continued development of non-food, second generation biofuels. While Slovakia currently produces first generation biofuels from corn and rapeseed, biomass, including cellulosic biofuels, is seen as the future source given food price concerns. ¶3. The Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture are particularly concerned about proposals for greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) improvements. The GoS suggests GHG reductions of biofuels over fossil fuels be limited to 50 percent as Slovakia would have difficulty achieving reductions beyond this amount. OBSITNIK