FKNK insists spring hunting season should open

The Federation for Hunting and Conservation has formally registered its disagreement with the Prime Minister’s decision not to open the spring hunting season.

“It is clear to the FKNK that the Prime Minister has once again on this issue failed to exercise the powers of decision that as a determined leader of a member state, equal to all other member states in the European Union, he is expected to exercise.”

Dr Gonzi said last week that since the Court of Justice of the European Communities imposed a ban on spring hunting last year as a preliminary decision in the court case against Malta, he was not in a position to open the spring hunting season this year as nothing had changed since then.

In a statement, the FKNK said it was disappointed that the Prime Minister announced his decision on a television programme when he could have addressed hunters through their representatives.

A written request for a meeting sent by the FKNK on February 26 remained unanswered.

It said that the interim measure imposed on April 24 was only applicable for the spring of last year, because the ECJ, as specifically stated in its decision, was not, at the time, in possession of Malta's derogation report for 2007 and so was unable to take a qualified decision.

Since then, the report on the 2007 'carnet de chasse' documents had been passed on to the European Commission. Based on these documents, the FKNK also submitted a comparative study with evidence that autumn could never be considered a satisfactory solution alternative to spring hunting

The FKNK said it had even offered to give-up most of the autumn season in return for the socio-cultural tradition of spring hunting in a transmission to members of Parliament, including the Prime Minister, last Monday.

It said that after being presented with this comparative study, the Ornis Committee refused to be used as a smoke-screen this time round.

Moreover, Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said on record that if the government did not agree with the Commission it would not hesitate to break EU regulations.

The association said that while it was not requesting anyone to break any regulations, it wanted these to be applied in their totality.

The FKNK said it wanted to draw government's attention to the official commitments made prior to EU Membership and called upon the government to honour them.

The government should also ensure that the proceedings at the ECJ were pursued and contested in the most determined manner, it said.