Hunting has been a political issue in every election since 1996, a prospect that may change with the European Court's decision. Kurt Sansone analyses the implications.
The decision by the European Court of Justice to reprimand the government for allowing spring hunting between 2004 and 2007 effectively closes the chapter on the political controversy, according to two hunter politicians.
Hunters Adrian Vassallo, a Labour member of Parliament, and Louis Deguara, a former Nationalist minister, believe the ECJ ruling shuts the door on the issue at least for the political parties.
Dr Vassallo said the decision did not surprise him, insisting that his warnings to hunters before the EU referendum in 2003 were vindicated by the latest ruling.
"The Labour leader has repeatedly said he will respect the outcome of the ECJ decision. Strictly speaking, this is a closed thing for both political parties. There is little else one can do," Dr Vassallo said.
His words were echoed by Dr Deguara who insisted that if both parties agreed that the decision by the ECJ was final it signalled the end of the interminable controversy on the eve of every election.
But would divorcing the hunting issue from party politics be more convenient for the parties?
Dr Deguara believes so, insisting, however, this was "certainly not" the case for the hunting community.
On his part, Dr Vassallo drew a distinction between the parlance of political parties and hunters. At the popular level, he said, the issue would not go away easily.
He insisted that hunters expected a future Labour government to allow spring hunting, even if he personally believed the issue was closed.
"Some countries had their hunting traditions safeguarded but ours were not. The government simply took hunters for one big ride when negotiating with the EU because there never was a permanent derogation," he said, arguing that a ban on spring hunting effectively meant the end of hunting.
Ever since the 1996 election, when the Labour Party capitalised on hunters' disgruntlement over stricter laws introduced by then Nationalist Environment Parliamentary Secretary Stanley Zammit, both major political parties have bent over backwards to accommodate hunters' demands.
Even today's Prime Minister, then in his capacity as Nationalist Party general secretary, had signed a pact with hunters before the 1998 election.
The whole controversy turned into a major bone of contention in the run-up to EU membership.
Many believed that, after 2004, with Malta's feet firmly stuck in the EU, hunting would no longer be an issue. This position was given credence when Lino Farrugia, a hunters' representative, contested the 2004 European Parliament election with little success. Mr Farrugia garnered just over 3,000 votes, a far cry from the 17,000 members the hunting federation claimed to have.
But the issue did not go away and both political parties carried on courting the vocal hunting community up to last June's EU Parliament election. The only difference this time was that both parties used the ECJ as a scapegoat for their watered-down positions on the matter.
Yesterday's ECJ ruling gave both parties a golden opportunity to drop hunting from their list of electoral priorities. At least that is what BirdLife president Joe Mangion also believes.
"This was a fight the country did not need. It was created by the political parties, fuelled by them and whether hunting remains a political issue is totally dependent on them. It is time to move on and instead tackle the issue of illegal hunting, which has been left to fester for so long," Mr Mangion said, insisting the court's decision was clear enough.
However, for the hunters' federation (FKNK) the ruling was an "eye opener" because the court said that autumn hunting for quail and turtle dove was not an adequate alternative to spring hunting for the two species.
In its reaction, the federation said the court ruled against Malta because the government did not apply the derogation allowed by the Birds Directive in a correct manner.
The implication is that hunters would continue to expect the government to open the spring hunting season according to the norms of the directive.
Whether this interpretation will now find political ears ready to listen remains to be seen as the parties attempt to go "green" themselves.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com