The suspension of the hunting season is being widely interpreted as a ploy to influence MEPs who will have to decide whether Karmenu Vella is fit to be the EU’s environment commissioner.

The ban is, however, significant on another level.

The suspension is an admission that all those measures supposedly introduced to curb illegal hunting are not working. The closing of the season is an admission that the only effective way to control abuses is to ban hunting altogether.

We’ve heard a lot of boasting about how illegalities have decreased thanks to recent steps taken by the authorities. However, when it is absolutely essential to have no illegalities at all, the only way is the closing of the season.

This is highly relevant to the abuses committed during the spring season. We may hear all sorts of promises about strict enforcement but, in the end, the only way to stop illegalities is to close the season.

We now know that even the government itself admits this.

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