MEPs approve diluted resolution

The European Parliament yesterday strongly urged the Commission "to redouble its efforts to persuade the Maltese authorities to comply fully with Community law" governing hunting.

The call was made in a resolution, dealing specifically with spring hunting and trapping, approved by 300 votes in favour, 253 against and 33 abstentions.

Among other things, the resolution welcomed the European Commission's decision to investigate the compliance of Maltese legislation and its application with Directive 79/409/EEC on the protection of wild birds. It also called on the government to "fully comply" with the EU Wild Birds Directive, the relevant Community law and the terms of the Accession Treaty.

The resolution fell short of calling on the government to reconsider its recent decision on spring hunting, as it originally was meant to do.

This was because of a number of amendments by Labour and Nationalist MEPs. The two Nationalist MEPs voted against the final text of the resolution and the three Labour MEPs abstained.

Originally, the resolution, as tabled jointly by the Green and United for Europe of Nations (UEN) groups, included a key paragraph stating that the European Parliament "considers the decision by the government of Malta to authorise spring hunting and trapping against the public advice of the Commission regrettable and calls on the government of Malta to reconsider the decision".

The European Commission said this week it considers the opening of the hunting season this spring as breaching EU laws.

An amendment moved by Labour MEP Louis Grech, on behalf of the Socialist Group, led to the deletion of the paragraph calling on the government to revisit its decision. All five Maltese MEPs supported this deletion.

Amendments moved by Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil, praising the government's efforts to curb illegal hunting, were inserted in the resolution.

The changes approved by the European Parliament state that:

"The chamber welcomes the decision by the Maltese government to address cases of abuse by, inter alia, increasing fines to a maximum of €14,000 and providing for terms of imprisonment of up to two years and the permanent revocation of hunting licences in the case of relapsers".

It "welcomes the decision by the Maltese government to ban the capturing of finches and the hunting of birds at sea during spring".

The three Labour MEPs voted against the above amendments which, however, were still carried.

While the Nationalist MEPs made every effort to garner support against the resolution and to weaken it through the amendments moved, Labour condemned both the government and the Commission for "fooling" the hunters before the EU referendum. This became more evident yesterday in an amendment proposed at the last minute by Mr Grech but which was rejected.

Mr Grech suggested adding a paragraph to the resolution's text stating that the European Parliament "notes that, prior to accession to the EU, the Maltese government had stated that it had negotiated a derogation on spring hunting with the European Commission and regrets that, despite the fact that other political forces and segments of civil society in Malta had challenged the Maltese government's statements, the European Commission at the time opted to remain silent on the subject, thus bringing about a potentially ambivalent situation".

The resolution, which will now be sent to the Council, the Commission and the government has no legal effect but sends a political message.

In a statement after the vote, Dr Busuttil and Nationalist MEP David Casa explained that they voted against this resolution as they did not want to see the European Parliament condemning Malta.

"Through our work we have managed to get 253 MEPs to vote with us. On the other hand, our three Labour colleagues did not even manage to get the support of their fellow Socialists," the two MEPs charged, pointing to the fact that most of the Socialist bloc voted in favour of the resolution.

The government said in a statement yesterday that the resolution as agreed highlights most clearly that the government is determined to fight abuses and to observe the agreement with the EU while it is conscious of the reality of the tradition in Malta.

The government remains committed not to tolerate abuse or the breach of regulations while it guarantees that it implements what has been negotiated.

The Labour Party said that yesterday's vote in the European Parliament confirmed that the government fooled both the environmentalists and the hunters before the referendum. They accused the Nationalist MEPs of deviation tactics when proposing amendments that "had nothing to do with EU directives".

Harry Vassallo, chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika, said the vote is not a vote against Malta but a vote in favour of the majority of Maltese citizens who wanted to join Europe precisely to get rid once and for all of illegalities and the lack of respect for the environment.

BirdLife Malta also welcomed the vote. Executive director Tolga Temuge said: "BirdLife has repeatedly stated that the only point that had been agreed on during membership negotiations was a transition period for the trapping of seven finches during autumn.

Every spring hunting season being given the blessing of the Maltese government since Malta joined the EU in 2004 has been a direct breach of EU law.

"Now is the time for the government to take the opportunity offered and comply with EU law or the public will have to bear the brunt of the government's misconduct. The government has a mandate to bring Malta's environment legislation in line with EU law. There is simply no other way forward."