A video clip too far for EU

The European Commission has told the hunters' federation (FKNK) to remove a video clip from Youtube, because it refers to one of Birdlife's EU-sponsored conservation project, as a "sham".

The commission stressed that the claims made in the clip to support this allegation were unsubstantiated and misleading.

"The latest monitoring visit was done as late as March and confirmed the project is being managed in a proper way and is producing the expected results," Phillip Owen, head of the LIFE Unit, tells FKNK in the letter, which is also copied to the Maltese representation to the EU.

Posted recently, the video clip was accompanied by a series of letters by the federation to foreign embassies in Malta against other conservation projects.

The Youtube clip concerns Birdlife's EU-sponsored LIFE conservation project with the Yelkouan Shearwater, a threatened marine bird species. Ten per cent of the world's population nest in Malta.

Running Vivaldi's Spring concerto in the background - probably meant to underscore that the clip was payback time for the closure of the spring hunting season this year - the video insinuates that this conservation project is in essence a scheme for Birdlife to milk money off the EU.

The five-minute video is a quasi-satirical feature on "how to obtain €1million from the EU and make the whole thing look respectable and necessary for mankind".

On the funding issue, however, Mr Owen writes: "Furthermore, I would like to state very clearly that the project was selected in a competitive procedure against projects submitted from all EU member states and is continually monitored by the European Commission."

If the matter escalates, the Commission could demand action from the government. Despite this, the federation has still not removed the clip from Youtube or its own website.

Birdlife had reported the issue to the Commission. In a covering letter to the conservation group, released to the press, Mr Owen says the Commission continues to support the project and considers it to be developing well.

However, when contacted FKNK president Lino Farrugia said: "We're going to respond to this letter." When asked whether the federation would be pulling out the video, he said: "No, not for now."

When he was asked about any evidence the federation might have to substantiate the insinuations made in the video, Mr Farrugia preferred to remain mum.

"Look, I'm not going to answer your questions, I will respond to the Commission, which is saying there are these allegations. We will answer them," he said.

"It's our business, I am not answerable to you... the Commission has the right to ask what it wants, but not you."

Birdlife executive director Tolga Temuge was coy when asked whether the conservation group intends taking any further action, saying that "all options are on the table".

"The action we expect now should come from the government. We sent a letter to Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino and the Prime Minister's office. We welcome the speedy response of the Commission, but we've seen no action from the government," he said, stressing that the administration had an obligation to ensure these things did not happen.

The project's manager Helen Raine said: "We hope the FKNK is able to recognise the value of this conservation work and desist with this smear campaign, which unfortunately is only serving to tarnish Malta's reputation on an international level. We also hope the government takes the necessary action to ensure the success of this and similar conservation projects in Malta."

In a press conference held early this week, data obtained through the electronic tagging of these seabirds from the Rdum tal-Madonna colony was presented, showing that two chicks that fledged this year had travelled as far as Greece, Crete and beyond to the Eastern Mediterranean. "This is the first time in the world that GPS data loggers have been fitted to this species and the first time that satellite tags have been fitted to their chicks. This data (are) therefore important at an international level," Ms Raine pointed out.