Friday, 25th April 2008 - 12:35CET
Court hunting decision "sets clear precedent" for subsequent years - Dimas
EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said today that although the decision by the European Court to ban spring hunting in Malta applied only for this year, "we consider that it sets a clear precedent in relation to spring hunting in subsequent years also in other Member States.
Mr Dimas said the court's decision "emphasises the importance of protecting the common natural heritage of the EU in preventing the hunting of birds during this period."
Earlier today the Maltese government onfirmedthat spring hunting for quail and turtle dove will not be allowed this spring.
It was its only reaction to the European Court of Justice decision.
BirdLife International and BirdLife Malta in a statement today further to the one issued yesterday, welcomed the decision by the European Court of Justice to issue interim measures ordering Malta not to open the 2008 spring hunting season for Turtle Dove Streptopelia Turtur and Quail Coturnix coturnix."This Order implies that the Court sees urgent need to prevent irreversible damage to these migratory bird species, while a final ruling on this case is pending and not expected before 2009." BirdLife said.
"The Court stressed in paragraph 48 of its Order the importance of protecting the EU's common heritage and stated that "the interest of hunters does not appear to have a value superior thereto".
Konstantin Kreiser, EU Policy Manager at BirdLife International welcomed the decision of the Court: "Although we regret it had to come this far - and Europe-wide embarrassment has been caused for Malta, we are confident that now government-authorised spring hunting has become a thing of the past in Malta. At the same time we hope that the Maltese government, police and all stakeholders will work together to clamp down on the still widely spread illegal hunting and trapping in the country."
The court case was instituted by the European Commission In January 2008, based on a complaint by BirdLife.
Joseph Mangion, President of BirdLife Malta commented: "We are pleased to see that the court has acknowledged the importance of protecting the common natural heritage of the European Union and its member states as overriding the individual interests of the Maltese hunters, who have the opportunity nonetheless to hunt these same birds in autumn. Malta has a special responsibility as it is the southernmost central Mediterranean country through which migratory birds first pass on their way to their European breeding grounds, and we should be setting an example rather than seeking exceptions."
Picture: Turtle Dove, by Denis Cachia.
(See full text of Court decision in separate story)
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Comments
Maybe hunters will find something more productive and less violent to teach their children or enjoy during free time...like pottery or knitting.
Let me give you one small example of who is causing embarrassment and giving Malta a bad name: A friend of mine is involved in the tourist industry and last spring he was called out to a farmhouse that was occupied by 2 British families who were spending their holiday there. First they were continuously bothered at every hour, starting at 5am, by hunting shots. Then the cherry on the cake was when they were swimming in the pool and a kestrel (a protected bird of prey) dropped dead in the water next to them!! They were obviously appalled by the scene and left the place abruptly there and then! They were so disgusted by this that they promised never to return and to actually spread the word to anyone who showed any inkling of visiting Malta! So tell me, who is giving Malta a bad name?
Other member states have proper politicians who stand up for facts and truly represent their population with their traditions.
I never mentioned it .
Read my comment again please.
I was talking about RIFLE SHOTS - HUNTING SOUNDS - SHOOTING SOUNDS - 'Hsejjes ta SPARAR BIS-SENTER' with the season closed. Do you understand now .
'
You don't no need to be illmannered with everyone just to make your point .
Before writing your comments look outside ,listen to the birds, count to ten and think.
No replies to my comments appearing below. But then I quoted FACTS and these do not appear to interest the anti-hunting lobby, or those involved, for that matter!
Anyway, we are used to surprises now: The hunters being promised that Spring Hunting will continue and this does not materialise; Being informed of the ECJ decision by BirdLife when the Government confirmed that it had not as yet received any communication; Reading comments mentioning that the Maltese Hunters use RIFLES to go hunting; etc. etc.
THE MAJORITY OF READERS WOULD RATHER READ ABOUT FACTS AND CLARIFICATIONS ARE AWAITED.
Shall we say we should have never become members of the EU for the sake of hunting and trapping? Is that what we are saying? To forfeit everything under the sun for the sake of a pastime? A pastime which many Maltese citizens don't want, after all, because it is one which tramples on the rights of others!
What 'ingrained values' are we talking about, here? What have 'values' got to do with hunting and trapping? And what 'values' do we uphold? Those that come from our inherent willingness to be double-faced? What in Maltese is called 'oqbra imbajda'? For crying out loud!!! Have a life!
Do not worry about my credibility ! We all should be worried about the credibility of our leaders. Including our President who twice wrote to us assuring us of spring hunting.
Well, Konstantin! Any Europe-wide embarrassment was caused by YOUR organization, Birdlife International, that kicked off this court case like classroom sneaks running to teacher with sob stories and misrepresentations. Instead of working to control illegal poaching by other means, you have simply destroyed the pastime of thousands of Maltese citizens. Locally, Birdlife have agitated against spring hunting by manipulating public opinion with false facts and figures, carefully posed photos and utter rubbish about breeding, behavioural and migration patterns. They even expect us to believe Malta will be overflowing with tourist birdwatchers, when it is countries like Israel (which is REALLY on a main migration route!) with 500 MILLION birds annually, that attract.
We have ALL been labelled as butchers and lawbreakers when the current reality is that most of us who obey the laws are at home while poachers are......guess what..........still poaching! I have never shot a protected bird in my life. I have never hunted out of season. I have never left shot birds behind. All my bag is for the table. Yet the faceless bureaucracy you know your way around so well has seen fit to accept your request for interim measures. Guilty before even being heard, let alone before being proven innocent.
And as to the EU in general, if only it made the same effort to control and curb the REAL Spring Migration that we get in Malta - that of thousands of illegals ending up on our shores, in detention camps, in our streets, costing us time, resources and negative publicity. Ugh what hypocrisy. The lives of a few game birds in Spring have higher value in the EU than those of human beings in a desperate situation, clinging to some tuna pen while EU countries point fingers at each other in a bid to evade responsiility.
Whatever the critics say, they cannot be trusted, because their only interest is how many dead birds they can amass in their showcase. How can one appreciate a dead bird over a living one is beyond human reasoning.
@ JOHN SCHERRI.
You don't really know what you are saying!! Maybe you are trying to take us and the public for "another ride". Rifle Shots??! Do you have the impression that one can shoot a turtle dove using a RIFLE??!?? Ahna ahna jew m'ahniex????
You can BUY DRUGS FROM WHEREVER YOU WANT;
YOU CAN GO WITH AS MANY PROSTITUTES YOU WANT;
YOU MAY SWEAR ;
YOU MAY STEAL THE COUNTRY AND THE CITIZENS BY CLAIMING SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS THE WAY YOU WANT;
YOU CAN 'TEASE' HUNTERS BUT THEY CAN'T 'REPLY';
YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT SINCE THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY;
BUT YOU CAN'T HUNT......... THIS IS THE ONLY ILLEGAL ARGUMENT AT THE MOMENT.
You, (Mr. Dimas) know all the facts, irreversable damage!, please who is being dramatic now?
Yes indeed, you, sir are sending a very clear message to the other member states.......MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY!
PATHETIC
Joseph Lia
even-more-eurosceptic
As regards to spring hunting.. well done to the EU for issuing this decision.. which the Maltese government of the past and present were afraid to issue because they would lose votes.. Hunting and trapping birds is not a sport, its destroying the environment and depriving other people from having the liberty of seeing these birds alive.. Once again Well done EU
MALTA WILL ALSO BE BASING ITS CASE ON "NO SATISFACTORY SOLUTION" FOR HUNTING TURTLE DOVE AND QUAIL IN AUTUMN. AS IN THE FINNISH CASE MALTA HAS A JUSTIFIED REASON. HOWEVER WILL JUSTICE PREVAIL?
THE INTERIM MEASURES CHARADE HAS SHOWN THAT JUSTICE WITHIN THE EU IS MORE A MATTER OF CONVENIENCE THAN A RIGHT.
Now that truly is a skill that we can all admire.
Make your own conclusions !
Ircevejt l-email tieghek.
Jiddispjacini li ghalik il-kacca tigi qabel il-hajja ix-xoghol u l-gid. Nahseb li qieghed taghmel zball kbir kemm ghalik kif ukoll ghal familja tieghek. Imma din haga tieghek u jiena nista biss nipprova nipperswadik li qieghed taghmel zball.
Dwar il-kacca, ilhom jghidulkom minn qabel ma dhalna fl-Unjoni Ewropeja li l-kacca u l-nsib ser jispiccaw. Ghaddew erba snin u inti u shabek ghadkom qieghdin tikkaccjaw u tonsbu. Nixtieq nifhem min dahak b'min.
Ghidli inti. Illum l-istagun miftuh jew le ?
Fit-tlett snin li ghaddew l-istagun infetah jew le ?
Nerga nistaqsik - min dahak b'min.
Inselli ghalik,
L. Gonzi
For the benefir of non Maltese readers Mr Gonzi asks me
" Who is fooling who ?"
I definitely agree with you 101%. i, having voted No for the Eu... in a fresh referendum will definitely vote YES.
Thumbs up again.
yeah, right....Malta will be pulled out of the EU by its hair, a fresh referendum will be called and with BOTH PN and MLP now in favour of the EU, the result would be 99% yes and hunting would be abolished forever...oh for such a day!
This very morning around 0730hrs sounds similar to rifle shots were heard around areas of Hal Far.
Rifle shots were also said to have been heard this week in areas around Rabat.
Has FKNK + POLICE got anything to say about this ?
Have the police arrested anyone during the past week or two for hunting when the season was closed ?
But following comments you have made on this issue, I can still appreciate your point. You may be able to re-group, and try a new approach. Be sure to select your membership very wisely, based on tested qualifications. Cast away the word "hobby" and focus on what is it that you really do, namely, harvesting to put food on the table. You are indigenous to the land, and it should be your sacred right to do just that, in properly designated and policed areas, within strict limits and respect of the law. With good lawyers on your side, well versed in international law, you may still be able to build your own case with the EU. You are naive to have expected the Maltese government to do it for you. At the same time, you also have been let down by an inept FKNK.
Thumbs up for this decision. We (the non hunters), together with our families and children can enjoy walks in the countryside as well as seeing these beautiful creatures venture on our island.
"L-Unjoni Ewropeja accettat il-kacca f'Malta fir-Rebbiegha" (The EU has accepted that Spring Hunting and Trapping in Malta will continue)....Ministry of Home Affairs and the Environment (01.02.2003)
"Wara shubija, il-kaccaturi Maltin se jistghu jibqghu jmorru ghall-kacca fir-Rebbiegha" (Following EU membership the Maltese Hunters will continue to enjoy Spring Hunting).... Malta-EU Information Centre with the assistance of the Delegation from the European Commission in Malta (February 2003)
"The EU side acknowledged, in writing, that Malta would be using the derogation"
AND
"...outcome of the Referendum ... must surely have placed an onus on the EU and on the environmental lobby, both of whom were well aware of what was negotiated"
Both quotes from The Times - Ask your MEP (Dr. Simon Busuttil) under the
heading "Spring Hunting".
I also mention the Hon. Dr. Eddie Fenech Adami's letter in 2003 assuring the Maltese Hunters that Spring Hunting is guaranteed after EU Membership.
THE MALTESE LAW-ABIDING HUNTERS DEMAND AN EXPLANATION FROM THE ABOVE RESPECTABLE INDIVIDUALS. All other comments from persons who are enjoying inflicting mental violence on the thousands of Maltese Hunters are superfluous!
The crux of the matter is either that:-
1. The EU is a dictatorship, OR
2. The state has lied to its citizens.
Quoting again Dr. Simon Busuttil: "the EU referendum was at best, a 50-50 affair". Bearing in mind all the above, one would indeed question whether the majority still wish to form part of this EU!
As for Commissioner Stavros Dimas, I would have expected him to be more respectable towards an, unfortunately, EU citizen. I would have expected him to reply to my email which has been left unanswered for the past two and a half months!
Hope that this case is closed once and for all.
Does the Cabinet of Commissioner Stavros Dimas have any idea how many birds migrate in Spring from the south of the Mediterranean to the north? Does his Cabinet know what percentage of these numbers, and of the total world population of quail and turtle dove, is the amount bagged in Malta during the Spring hunting season? Have the EU Commission and the ECJ lost all sense of proportion, when pushed by the relevant NGOs? Can the ECJ decision be appealed?
It appears to me that the EU Commission and the ECJ have carried an injustice. The majority of the people in Malta might not be in favour of Spring hunting, but do minorities have absolutely no rights? I suggest that those in favour of Spring hunting send a complaint to the Commissioner at: stavros.dimas@ec.europa.eu
May I remind you that if it wasn't for the thousands of hunters' votes during the EU referendum, Malta would not be a member of the EU of dictatorship!
@ H.Farrugia
just what exactly are you insinuating? What exactly are Maltese people made of? You mean that the small minority of uncontrollable hunters will go on another rampage if your so-called 'war' is lost? The vast majority of Maltese people welcome this decision and you have only yourselves to blame.
@ D. Caruana and his promise to Gonzi that he (Caruana) "won't forget this". So?
AT last we have been waiting for this decision for quite some time now. Lets just hope that it will be banned forever and not this year only. By the way pls authorities do something about some of these people who are still shooting down birds everyday including this morning at various places in Siggiewi like at Tal providenza church area, Laferla cross and Tal hesri valley areas.
And has it not occurred to you that now that we are members of the EU, our government cannot do as it pleases, but would have to abide by EU regulations?
sorry but you have been defeated and learn to take NO for an answer
a big NO for spring hunting
however hunting of turtle dove is allowed all year round in argentina and infact they are pests
so next spring all maltese huntrs can go to argentina to hunt turtle doves
Anyone who thought that Malta was now a free and independent country within the EU is in for a shock-the shipyard will be the next target.
Many people in the U.K. have come to regret joining the EU and if there were a referendum here the overwhelming majority would vote to get out.
A big one, for the matter. The parliament hasn't even kicked off, which means the next PN government has more than 5 years in government before the election comes again, and this story of hunting will long long be forgotten by the election date in 5 years time.
So, yes, you have been taken for a ride. Don't you think its a little strange that the court decision was taken soon after the election was over in Malta a few weeks ago?
Hope you enjoyed the ride.
Thanks for shaming us throughout the world. But the war has not as yet been won. We'll wait and see. Just try to tough our deeply ingrained values and you'll see what the Maltese people are made of.
I will never forget this. I promise you.
Oh, and I do keep my promises by the way.
WAS THIS ALL THE GOVERNMENT HAD TO SAY? AFTER LEAVING US WITHOUT COMMENT FOR WEEKS ON END? AFTER ALL THE PROMISES AND LETTERS ABOUT DEROGATIONS? IS THIS THE TRANSPARENCY? IS THIS THE "HADD M'HU GHAR-RIMI?"
I have respected and abided by the law all my hunting life. I have NEVER shot ANY protected bird. My bag is for the table. I have never hunted out of season. There are many, many others like me out there. At the stroke of a pen by some faceless European bureaucrat we have lost everything that generations of Maltese have practiced.
Who's to blame? Roll on Freedom of Information act.................