Tomorrow's oral hearing at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg over spring hunting will be held in camera.
Sources close to the court yesterday described the decision by the court's President Vassilios Skouris, to hear the submissions of the Maltese government and the Commission behind closed doors, as uncommon practice.
"Although this is permissible under our rules, hearings are normally public. However, due to the sensitivity of this case, particularly for Malta, it might be better that both parties would have the opportunity to submit their arguments in a more informal way," a source said.
The court's decision to appoint an oral hearing before handing down judgment was taken last Wednesday following the receipt of the EU executive's response to the defence dossier prepared by Malta.
Malta made its defence submissions on March 7, on the last day of the 15-day deadline given by Luxembourg. The Commission's counter submissions were presented to the court on March 14.
Tomorrow's hearing, which is scheduled to start at 9.30 a.m., will be held before the court's President, responsible for deciding on the issue of "interim measures". It will be attended only by the two defence teams, one headed by Malta's Attorney General Silvio Camilleri and the other by Italian EC official Donatella Recchia who is heading the Commission's legal team.
However, it is not yet clear whether the court will make a formal decision immediately after hearing the submissions.
"It is difficult to say what the Greek judge will decide after hearing the two parties although under normal circumstances, the President should decide immediately after hearing both parties," the source said.
"One has to bear in mind that the President will only decide on interim measures as the original case will be heard by a different judge.
"Due to the fact that the commencement of the spring hunting season in Malta is imminent, it is highly likely that the decision on 'interim measures' will be also given tomorrow."
Following various warnings to ban spring hunting, the Commission officially submitted a formal case against Malta to the ECJ last February, requesting the court to declare as illegal the continuation of spring hunting on the island.
Apart from this, the Commission also asked the court to issue an urgent decision, known as "interim measures", barring the Maltese authorities from allowing any hunting in spring until a final decision on the original case is taken by the court.
If the court upholds the Commission's request and issues interim measures, no hunting will take place this spring until the original case is heard and judged.
The original case, registered as Case 76/08, could take up to two years to be decided.
Applying a derogation under the EU's Birds Directive, Malta is the only EU member state that still permits the hunting of quail and turtle dove in spring.
The Commission argues that Malta's derogation is not justified and that the hunting of these migratory birds takes place during their return from Africa to breeding grounds in Europe, before they have had a chance to reproduce. The impact on bird numbers is, therefore, more significant than it would be in autumn or winter.