“The answer does not lie in increasing quotas, which will only result in the collapse of fish stocks and, in the long term, ruining the fleets concerned,” the spokeswoman for Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg said on Wednesday 15 April. The Commission response is too often stereotypical, sometimes even brutal, ignoring the problems faced by fishermen, in this case those from the north of France, who are calling for an increase in the amount of cod they can catch so that they can continue to work. Before the European elections, such automatic responses from Brussels bring anger and mistrust towards European institutions. The Commission is encouraging the French authorities to hold discussions with fishermen on ways of allowing vessels to fish without exhausting the resource. “We call that a reduction in capacity. Let us be clear! We have to look at what restructuring aid can offer the fleet,” it is said in Brussels. In short, this means destroying boats - something the Commission is likely to propose once again on 22 April when it publishes its Green Paper on the reform of the common fisheries policy (CFP). (L.A.C./transl.rt)