Tuesday, 29th April 2008
Spring hunting ban
CNI questions European Commission's good faith
The European Courts of Justice's interim decision to ban hunting this spring raises questions over the good faith of the European Commission and the Maltese government during Malta's EU accession negotiations, when it had been assured that spring hunting would be allowed once Malta became a member, the chairman of the Campaign for National Independent (CNI), Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici said yesterday.
Before Malta voted in the 2003 referendum on EU accession, the government - namely Eddie Fenech Adami and Lawrence Gonzi (then Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minster respectively) as well as European Commissioner Joe Borg and MEP Simon Busuttil (then Foreign Affairs Minister and chairman of the Malta-EU Information Centre respectively) - had told the people, and hunters, that spring hunting would be allowed, Dr Mifsud Bonnici recalled.
People voted for accession based on this information. However, last week's interim decision by the court told a different story.
While stressing that he did not intend to go into the merits of the case, Dr Mifsud Bonnici added that, given this scenario, Dr Fenech Adami, Dr Gonzi, Dr Borg and Dr Busuttil now had two alternatives.
If it transpired that they had lied to the people before the referendum they should resign. If, on the other hand, it turned out that the European Commission was not honouring the agreement made with the government then they should ensure that Malta's EU membership is withdrawn because it would mean that the yes majority vote (for accession) was "faulty".
"Someone must assume responsibility," Dr Mifsud Bonnici insisted.
The government had been aware that the Commission was contesting spring hunting in Malta for quite some time and, yet, did not do anything to preserve its position. On signing the Lisbon Treaty in December and accepting the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the bloc earlier this year, the Maltese government had missed out on two opportunities to ensure the Commission honoured its agreement. Those opportunities could also have been used for Malta to insist that state aid to Malta Shipyards would be allowed, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.
Since accession to the EU in 2004, the government permitted hunting for turtle dove and quail in spring on the basis of a derogation from the Birds Directive. The Commission has disputed the practice in the European Court, which last week issued an interim measure banning spring hunting for this year. It is still to reach a final decision on the case.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici noted that in the interim decision the court ruled that the interests of the hunters did not surpass the interest to safeguard the common heritage of the birds (turtle dove and quail) and this reasoning led one to believe that the court will eventually ban hunting in Malta for good.
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Comments
I was driven towards other entities when I was young but now am utterly sorry for it. Experience comes with age and lessons are learnt in good ways and bad ones.
The lesson I learnt most is that you start appreciating what you have when you start to lose it.
I think that I was the first but surely not the last to experience this lesson and time should prove me right.
The good thing about it is that I can choose to play sadist when this will be experienced by others but I would rather gain sympathy and friendship than enemies.
The world was not created in one go,
A driven yes should have been a doubtful no,
Many great empires rose and fell,
How much will this last ? Time will tell.
While i think it is ridiculous to pull out of the EU(there are hundreds of issues more important than hunting). Your comment about killing birds is as ridiculous as KMB's.
Killing is one thing and hunting is another. You have every right not to want to hunt game birds, but stopping Maltese hunters from doing this has not helped these game birds. a very good friend of mine from the UK called to thank birdlife in Malta since now i can only enjoy hunting and eating these game birds in the UK! Funny how things change!!!!
Also please try and remember that everyone has, in one way or the other, contributed to the loss of habitat or by pollution and carbon emissions to the sad state of our countryside and environment so let's not take on a holier than thou attitude since unless you live in a cave and eat rotten fruit every single person on the face of this world is responsible.
Finally, the only thing that will change is that instead of hunting turtledove and quail, Maltese hunters will now raise and release partridge, pheasant and other game birds on their private land and hunt to their heart's content. Hardly the end that criers like birdlife wanted huh?
KMB: You tried closing my school once, must you try messing with my children's future now?