Brussels has conveyed its concerns to Malta over the proposed re-opening of a finch trapping season this autumn but will wait for the government’s decision before taking a stand.
The Ornis Committee, which makes recommendations to the government on hunting and trapping, has endorsed the hunting federation’s proposal to bring back finch trapping under a derogation from EU rules.
Asked to comment yesterday, a European Commission spokesman said it was too early for Brussels to take a stand.
We need to wait for Malta to request a derogation
But he stressed that trapping was banned in principle and Brussels had already informed Malta about this.
“We will still need to wait for the Maltese authorities to request a derogation,” he said.
“If they do, we will assess it very carefully. We have been in close contact with the Maltese authorities regarding this and they are aware of our concerns.”
Malta is already in hot water as infringement procedures were started in 2010 over a previous finch trapping season.
Sources close to the Commission said that Brussels may decide to move to the third and final stage of the procedure by taking the case to the European court.
The government has made it clear it is keen to allow finch trapping.
Shortly after Labour was elected last year, Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights Roderick Galdes said there was a crack in the EU’s rules that could allow it.
Asked yesterday about a possible conflict with the EU, he said the Commission’s past warnings were not related to this proposal.
“In 2012, the legal framework and supervision regime pertaining to these derogations was completely revamped to address certain deficiencies pointed out by the European Commission through the infringement procedure.
“The proposed finch live-capturing derogation recommended by Ornis is a completely different derogation that has no bearing on the status of derogations involving huntable species.”
The trapping issue goes back a number of years. In 2003, the government had negotiated a special arrangement, as part of Malta’s EU accession package, which allowed the island a five-year transition period.
The transition period ended in 2008 when no more trapping was allowed.
However, in 2009 the previous administration applied a derogation to allow the trapping of four species – turtle dove, quail, golden plover and song thrush.
Finches were left out because they are considered off limits by the EU and cannot be hunted. However, the Commission launched an infringement procedure in 2010, arguing that Malta had failed to supervise the practice strictly and ensure that only a small, selectively targeted number of birds was captured.
The infringement was kept open following a revision of Malta’s stand allowing only for the trapping of song thrush and golden plover.