European Parliament debates Malta hunting petition today

Hunting in Malta will be discussed in the European Parliament in Brussels today as a petition calling for the immediate end to spring hunting will be presented to the chairmen of the institution's petitions and environment committees. The petition, coordinated by Bird Protection Belgium with the support of 15 European partner organisations, has been signed by 190,000 European citizens, including 3,400 Maltese nationals.

The petition denounces "the massacre of protected birds in Malta and calls upon the European Commission to decide without delay to force the Maltese government to stick to the Birds Directive and ban spring hunting and ban trapping in Malta by 2008 when the transitional period will expire".

A spokesman for Bird Protection Belgium yesterday told The Times the petition is being backed by a number of MEPs from all political groups.

Asked about what action is being sought from the European Parliament, the spokesman said the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament has the competence to take the appropriate action on this issue such as conduct parliamentary investigations, send fact finding missions to Malta and provide information regarding compliance with the relevant community legislation.

The spokesman said the petition's intention is to push the European authorities and the Maltese government to impose a complete ban on spring hunting, with immediate effect.

The presentation of the petition is the latest development in a series of calls by various quarters to address the situation of hunting and trapping in Malta.