Spring hunting could spell more EU trouble for Malta

If the government were to allow hunting next spring, the European Commission would add this to the infringement procedure Malta is already facing over the issue, Commission sources said yesterday.

This will be made clear to representatives of the government, hunters and the anti-hunting organisation BirdLife in a meeting in Brussels today.

The Commission says spring hunting is not justified in Malta and has initiated legal proceedings against the government. In the coming weeks it is expected to issue a reasoned opinion, the second stage of the infringement procedure.

The government denies breaching EU laws and is ready to take the matter to the European Court. The Commission announced the meeting during the daily lunch-time press conference yesterday.

The Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation of the EU (Face), the Maltese hunting federation (FKNK), BirdLife International and BirdLife Malta have been invited to participate as observers.

"The meeting is intended to clarify the provisions of the EU's 1979 Birds Directive regarding three specific aspects related to bird hunting in Malta: the hunting of birds during their spring migration; the trapping of certain bird species; and the illegal shooting of birds.

"The meeting is in line with the EU's Sustainable Hunting Initiative, which favours dialogue and conflict resolution between hunting and nature protection organisations," the Commission said.

A Commission source said yesterday: "We want to make it clear that this is not a negotiation meeting. The negotiations on hunting ended in 2002. It is just an information meeting in which we want to make sure that everyone understands what we are saying."

A request made by The Times to attend the meeting has been turned down.

The hunting federation's general secretary, Lino Farrugia, said his organisation is taking the meeting seriously and has prepared a comprehensive dossier about hunting practices and how laws should be changed to satisfy EU rules yet safeguard "traditional hunting".

Another hunters' association, the Malta Movement for Hunting and Environmentalists, said yesterday it had not been invited to the meeting but had sent "objections and proposals" to the EU's directorate general for environment ahead of the meeting.

Edward Decelis, the movement's secretary general, said the document prepared by the federation had not been approved by his hunting group and neither did it have its blessing.

"Prudence would have dictated that such a document would be drawn up by all organisations not by a few individuals. Hence, the EU directorate should note that the document does not have its blessing and those taking part in the meeting should shoulder all the responsibility of what will happen," Mr Decelis said.

But Mr Farrugia said it was only FKNK which had the required international affiliations to enable it to represent Maltese hunters officially. "The Malta Movement for Hunting and Environmentalists has never done anything for hunting in Malta. They have practically lost all their members and want to appear to be doing something now. It's not the way things should be done," he said.

Mr Farrugia was also critical of BirdLife Malta for not sending its top representatives to the meeting, unlike the other parties, saying they were not giving the meeting its due importance.

BirdLife Malta director Tolga Temuge said the meeting was aimed at clarifying issues for the government.

"The NGOs are there as observers. We don't see this as a critical meeting. BirdLife is taking it seriously and is represented adequately."