The spring hunting No Campaign this morning reacted to 'lies' by the Yes campaign ahead of the April 11 referendum.

Spokesmen Saviour Balzan and Moira Delia said it was not true that people should vote Yes in order to be like their European counterparts, because no one else in Europe had a spring hunting season.

Furthermore, there was no derogation anywhere for spring hunting of turtle dove and quail.

It was also an untruth to say that spring hunting was negotiated during the EU accession talks. The EU Treaty Malta signed did not even mention it.

The spokesmen said another untruth was that political parties were in favour of spring hunting - they had given their members a free vote to make up their own minds.  

Mr Balzan dismissed suggestions that the referendum was aimed at oppressing any minority, insisting that referendums gave a voice to the voiceless. He also questioned why the argument had not been raised for similar votes in the past.

They also scorned claims that hunters were tolerant saying the past was a mirror for the future and it was deeds, not words, that defined people. Indeed, the Yes campaign was not showing the real faces and character of the hunters, the spokesmen said. 

YES CAMPAIGN - MORE PROOF OF MALTA-EU TALKS

In a statement, the Yes campaign said that minutes of a negotiations meeting held on 20 July 2001, in connection with Malta's EU Membership application revealed that the ‘No’ main spokesman Saviour Balzan had proposed that the Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniensis) be added to huntable species.

The Yes camp said the Spanish Sparrow was an all year resident and protected species on the Maltese islands, and Mr Balzan had made his proposal on the assumption that the bird could be classified as a pest species because of the potential damage and hazard it may inflict because of its abundance, particularly on agricultural land.

"However, in Malta, campaigns are in force which encourage people to appreciate the presence of this bird in our countryside. While the ‘No’ campaign is trying to eliminate the best period of hunting in Malta, as confirmed by Balzan himself during the negotiations, the truth is that the ‘No’ main spokesperson had worked for the complete opposite to prevail."

The campaign said that when faced with these facts, Iva, bħala Maltin u Ewropej was more convinced of the extremism and deceit which were being exhibited on a daily basis by the ‘No’ campaign and therefore it insisted that   ‘Yes’ was a choice in favour of tolerance and a fair balance.

BALZAN REPLIES

Responding to the Yes campaign’s claims, Mr Balzan told Times of Malta that he had never proposed any extension to the spring hunting season.

Moreover, he explained that the bird species in question, the Spanish Sparrow, was a huntable species when the discussions took place in 2001, and as such had to be included in an annex to the Birds Directive.

This, he said, was a technicality he undertook as a government employee working to a government brief.

“Already then, it was difficult for us to include turtle dove and quail as huntable species because of the low population numbers,” he added.

Mr Balzan said the only way the minutes of the discussion could have been leaked were “from the ministry of [parliamentary secretary for animal rights] Roderick Galdes.

He challenged the Yes campaign to release the full minutes, and not “pick and choose the quotes that suit them.”