Malta 'must' be taken to court over spring hunting

If the government opens the spring hunting season, the European Commission "must" take Malta to court because derogations for declining species like turtle doves and quails are not allowed, according to BirdLife.

Quoting article 260 of the Lisbon Treaty, which talks about complying with court judgments, a spokesman for the NGO said that opening the season would breach the court ruling.

BirdLife's European partners yesterday urged the Commission to take action against Malta if it opened the spring season, claiming this went against the pro-nature stance of the EU in an attempt to appease the hunting lobby.

Meanwhile, the hunting federation, FKNK, condemned what it termed as BirdLife's "outright lies" without any heed to the "serious damage such fallacies" could do to the island's main economic pillar of incoming tourism at this "delicate" point in time.

Last Wednesday, the government's advisory body on hunting, the Ornis Committee, recommended opening a three-week season during which hunters would be able to shoot 22,298 turtle doves and 10,837 quails. When divided by the 10,000 or so registered hunters, this works out to one bird per week each hunter but BirdLife fears it is impossible to enforce such quotas.

The government said on Friday it would embark on a new round of talks with the Commission where it would propose a plan of action, within the parameters of the recent ruling of the European Court of Justice.

According to BirdLife, time is running out for the government and the Commission to decide on a way forward since Ornis recommended that the season run between April 10 and 30.

"The Commission cannot and will not react to the Prime Minister's decision at such short notice," a BirdLife spokesman said, adding the government had had four months to submit a plan.

The government was not expected to reject the Ornis recommendation or make any drastic changes to it, BirdLife said.

"The most the Office of the Prime Minister will do is slightly amend the recommendations by Ornis and we expect this to happen again this time. They will open the season based on the proposal with minor changes."

Meanwhile, the government has refused to answer questions about whether it would be risking any automatic fines or penalties by accepting Ornis' recommendation.

The Times also asked the OPM whether it was giving the Commission enough time to discuss the spring season and whether it would be discussing any control measures to produce a more convincing argument that hunters could truly stop shooting when the bag limits are met.

"At this stage, the situation remains as explained by the Prime Minister during the press conference held on Friday, March 5," an OPM spokesman said in a curt response.

BirdLife said it had also told the Commission it no longer considered the Ornis Committee to be independent and the government also refused to react to this statement.

The OPM spokesman quoted the Prime Minister as saying at last week's press conference that the Ornis recommendation was just a recommendation and the government would discuss the spring hunting proposals with the Commission "within the parameters of the court ruling".

Alternattiva Demokratika has also warned against Malta being taken to court once again by the Commission, adding that any fines the island incurred should not be covered by the taxpayer because they would be the result of politicians who were sticking to false hopes.