The referendum and hunting

Arnold Cassola accused me (The Sunday Times, March 18) of "insulting us all by stating that by voting yes to EU membership we had voted for hunting."

This is not true at all. In fact, what I said was exactly the opposite.

I stated: "This is not to say that those who voted for EU membership also voted in favour of spring hunting. It simply means that the government is bound by a political mandate that was endorsed both in the referendum as well as in the last general election. So the political decision on spring hunting was not taken last week. It was taken prior to the referendum. And I cannot see how the government can fail to honour it."

But then nor is Professor Cassola a normal voter. Before becoming an Italian Member of Parliament, I recall him being actively involved in the pre-referendum debate. And his Maltese counterpart party, Alternattiva Demokratika, was then a member of the MEUSAC committee and received all official documentation on the outcome of negotiations, not least the one on hunting dated September 27, 2002.

I do not recall Professor Cassola objecting to this document at the time. Nor do I recall him telling us to vote against EU membership because of what was negotiated on spring hunting.