Prime Minister Zapatero?s sudden decision to move elections forward to this November puts Spanish biodiesel in check. The sector has gone more than a year waiting for a law that would ensure its survival, because otherwise it would have to deal with unfair importations of fuel from Argentina and Indonesia. These countries can sell the fuel at less than Spain can buy the raw materials (soy oil) to make it.
Facing this situation, in July the fuel division of Appa sent a letter to Prime Minister Zapatero. elEconomista has viewed the letter, which relates a serious anxiety about ?the block on the approval of an earmarking order to regulate production of biodiesel.?
According to industry sources, the order was already signed by Minister of Industry Miguel Sebastián after having raised above all the various phases of the administrative process, including a pass through the National Commission of Energy and the Consejo de Estado, the main consulting agency for the Spanish federal government.
The letter emphasized suspicions that the law had been suspended by the prime minister due to ?threats that the Argentine government would enact economic retaliation against Spanish companies who have significant interests in their country? should the law be approved before October. Repsol is a prime example.
Sebastián demanded a meeting between him, the Association of Renewable Energy Producers and Repsol president Antonio Brufau, but the meeting was cancelled just 24 hours before it was to take place.
