DESPITE continuous efforts to promote the palm oil industry, consultations with European Union stakeholders and the strengthening of engagement with end users, public opinion on palm oil in the EU remains negative.

This is due to concerns about climate change, environmental protection and biodiversity conservation.

French Ambassador to Malaysia Frederic Laplanche said Malaysia and the EU should enhance cooperation in seeking solutions to the said concerns, particularly about deforestation issues in the region.

“We have got to face it together. My hope is that we can cooperate and not stay at the stage where we shout at and criticise each other without understanding.

“There are wide areas of possibilities, where both parties must understand each other in order to improve the situation,” he told Bernama in an exclusive interview recently.

He said France is aware of and understands the importance of palm oil to the Malaysian economy, and had acted as an intermediary within the EU so that the bloc would not adopt a discriminatory policy on the commodity, which could impact smallholders’ livelihood.

“At the same time, I am always very frank with my interlocutors in the government and when I am talking to the public. I think we must realise the problem of the link between oil palm cultivation and deforestation.”

He said although it is not for France to tell Malaysia what to do, the reality is that public opinion in Europe is sensitive when it comes to climate change, environmental issues and biodiversity protection.

In January, the European Parliament voted in favour of a draft law on renewable energy, which called for the use of palm oil in biofuels to be banned from 2021 – a decision that could affect millions of oil palm growers in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

The EU said the commodity, if used in biofuels, would derail Europe’s ambitions to green its transport sector.

The commodity is Malaysia’s top export to the EU, representing 49% of the region’s imports.

However, the country’s palm oil industry got a brief respite recently. The EU softened its stance on the use of palm oil among member countries by omitting any mention of the commodity in its updated Renewable Energy Directive.

The omission came following an agreement reached during a “trilogue” involving the European Parliament, European Council and European Commission on June 14.

An earlier proposal had stated that a palm oil biofuels ban by 2021 would be included in the directive.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, during his visit to Indonesia last month, said Malaysia and Indonesia, which are the world’s biggest producers of palm oil, had agreed to work together to counter the anti-palm oil campaign in Europe. – Bernama, July 19, 2018.