'No guarantee on spring hunting'

There is no guarantee hunting will be sanctioned again next spring, Environment Minister George Pullicino told The Times yesterday.

When contacted, Mr Pullicino said the incidents of illegal hunting earlier this month, which forced the government to cut short the spring hunting season, had weakened Malta's muscle in its arguments to retain spring hunting.

The government, he added, had made it clear that any discussion on hunting has to be linked to a plan of self-regulation by the hunters themselves. The Environment Minister was speaking a day after MEP Simon Busuttil said he had no doubt that the hunting season would reopen for another year.

Asked during a discussion programme on RTK radio whether he could give a guarantee about the contentious spring hunting issue, Dr Busuttil said:

"I am not the Environment Minister and I don't form part of the government. But I was elected on the National Party's ballot with a clear promise to retain spring hunting.

"The government has kept its promise and opened the spring hunting season for five years in a row and I have no doubt that, for the sixth year in a row, the government will maintain that promise again."

In a surprise decision earlier this month, the government decided to abruptly pull the plug on spring hunting 10 days before it was meant to come to a close, prompted by the massacre of hundreds of protected birds.

Dr Busuttil said he agreed with the government's decision, which was also loudly applauded by environment NGOs.

The Times had quoted a European Commission spokesman saying that the Commission hopes spring hunting will no longer be permitted.

Despite the incessant protests by BirdLife, Malta remains the only EU state that permits hunting in spring. The EU has threatened to challenge the government's persistence in the European Court.