France on Tuesday said it would launch a new tender by the end of the year for more biofuel production than originally foreseen and announced measures to encourage the development of the alternative fuels.
In a speech to farmers in Rennes, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said France should reach seven percent of biofuel incorporation in fuels by 2010, a figure rising to 10 percent by 2015. The European Union had originally set a target for member states of 5.75 percent biofuel incorporataion by 2010.
He said a tender would be launched by the year-end for 1.8 million tonnes of biofuels, doubling the amount first planned.