A preliminary analysis of a report submitted by the government indicated a possible infringement of Malta's derogation allowing spring hunting, European Commission officials said yesterday.
However, they stopped short of stating whether Malta would be facing an infringement procedure over the issue and said only that a final decision will be made at the end of next month.
The Commission officials from DG Environment were giving their response to the European Parliament's Petitions Committee during a hearing about a petition signed by more than 190,000 EU citizens demanding an end to spring hunting in Malta. The petition was presented by Belgium's Bird Protection society a few weeks ago.
Malta is the only member state in the EU where hunting of quails and turtle doves is still allowed during spring. The Maltese government believes that a derogation is possible under article nine of the Birds Directive. However, this derogation is granted under certain conditions and the Commission is now studying a report submitted by the Maltese government to justify the use of the derogation.
Speaking at the Petitions Committee, Lolita Szabo, a spokesman for Bird Protection Belgium, argued that hunting in spring in Malta should be abolished as the derogation is not being interpreted as it should.
Commission officials told the committee that the EU executive is not satisfied with the statistical figures presented by Malta in its derogation report as the sources invoked are not considered to be "reliable".
However, before giving its final response, the Commission has asked the Maltese authorities for further information. The Commission said it is still waiting for the information requested. Apart from the statistics, the Commission said it was not convinced that the derogation is not serving as "a simple extension of the autumn hunting season". This is strictly not allowed under EU rules.
However, before pronouncing itself officially on the issue, the Commission said it would have a meeting at the end of March to discuss the latest developments, particularly on whether the transposition of the Birds Directive had been effective and if the enforcement was satisfactory.
During the debate, British MEP Sir Robert Atkins intervened to state that the Commission and the committee should be careful in dealing with this topic, as it was unfair to pick just on Malta. He pointed out that there are similar problems in France, Italy and other member states. He also referred to a letter sent to all MEPs by Environment and Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino, affirming that the Maltese minister is right when saying that there is more going on in other EU member states than Malta.
None of the Maltese MEPs are members of the EP's Petitions Committee although assistants of Nationalist MEPs were present during the meeting.
When the government's report was submitted, both BirdLife Malta and the Federation for Hunting and Conservation had said they felt the figures of shot birds as communicated to the EU by the government to justify the spring shooting derogation were "on the low side".
The report contained the figures submitted by hunters in the carnet de chasse, a form they hand in when paying their hunting licence. This contains details of the birds they have shot in the previous year.
The report stated that in 2004, there were 11,759 registered hunters and 4,691 registered trappers. Between them they shot or trapped 2,128 quails and 10,111 turtle doves from May 1 to 22, 2004. Contacted at the time, both BirdLife Malta president Joe Mangion and the secretary general of the federation, Lino Farrugia, said the figures were "on the low side".
Mr Pullicino had said the figures were what hunters declared in the carnet de chasse. "We reproduced what they reported, we did not cook any figures, we just reproduced what they gave."