PM shunned us, ornithologists insist

Two ornithological organisations continue to insist that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had refused to meet with them, despite claims to the contrary.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and BirdLife Malta yesterday released copies of correspondence connected to the issue.

RSPB claimed the Prime Minister had refused three written requests to meet and discuss the issue of illegal hunting. Europe's largest conservation organisation collected a 115,000-signature petition and delivered it to the Prime Minister office's doorstep at Auberge de Castille, in Valletta, on Monday morning.

BLM and RSPB circulated copies of correspondence to show that the OPM turned down three requests for a meeting and instead delegated the meeting to lower-ranking government officials. "The request made by BirdLife Malta and RSPB was to meet with Dr Gonzi. As can be clearly seen, this was declined with suggestions to meet the Minister of the Environment or the head of Prime Minister's secretariat instead. There is a clear difference between these two people and the Prime Minister," RSPB's director of international operations Alistair Gammel said.

The two organisations said that under normal circumstances the organisations would not have released private correspondence and was only doing so to counter the OPM's attempt to discredit them.

BLM executive director Tolga Temuge said: "Rather than making attempts to discredit our organisations, the Prime Minister should have made the declaration we are all waiting to hear on whether the government intends to flout EU law once again by allowing spring hunting in 2007".

BirdLife challenged Dr Gonzi to issue a statement on whether the government intends to respect EU law or risk taking the country to the European Court of Justice.

The petition action received international coverage, particularly in the UK where it was covered extensively by the Daily Telegraph and The Times, among others.