Brussels, 30/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - The former President of the European Parliament, Nicole Fontaine, has criticised the way the Commission is managing the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, saying that technocrats acting without consultation is killing Europe, and can only feed into nationalistic reflexes of the most regressive kind. She continued that when one brusquely announces in the media to an entire profession that Europe will scrap 30,000 jobs in companies most of which are family or small businesses and that Community money will be used to destroy tomorrow ships that the same Community money funded yesterday, the profession is not wrong to wonder whether the Gods have lost their heads. She said that it was not the substance of the issue that was the problem but the way it was dealt with at European level, without considering social and therefore human aspects.
Speaking to reporters, Commission spokesperson Jonathan Faull said on Thursday that the Commission's Communication was the result of three years of consultation (with industry, fishermen, NGOs, the regions etc) that led to a report in 2000 and the White Paper of March 2001. Fischler had travelled to fishing areas (like Brittany in June 2001) and the Commission was earmarking more than half a billion euros for the social impact of the reform, he added.