Labour MEP John Attard Montalto yesterday clashed with the Polish chairman of the EP's Petition Committee, Marcin Libicki, during the hearing of a pro-hunting petition presented by the Maltese hunters' federation.
The incident occurred in a full conference room of MEPs, assistants and other petitioners, when Dr Attard Montalto accused Mr Libicki of being prejudiced against Maltese hunters and insisted that the committee's minutes record that he had no confidence in him as chairman.
Although Dr Attard Montalto is not a member of the Petitions Committee, and normally does not attend such meetings, he told The Times after the meeting that he has been the only Maltese MEP assisting the hunters' lobby for the past four years and wanted to give them a helping hand when they presented their case in Brussels.
Yesterday, when the FKNK petition started to be discussed, the chairman asked for comments and Dr Attard Montalto promptly intervened saying he first wanted to ask the Commission representative a question and would make further remarks following the answer.
The Labour MEP asked the Commission whether, apart from the accession negotiations between Malta and the EU, there was any other informal agreement or side letter specifying that hunters in Malta could continue with their practice in spring.
The Commission representative answered in the negative and confirmed that there was no such arrangement or "side letter" and that what Malta and the EU agreed was covered in the Treaty.
On hearing this, Mr Libicki said that the Commission should pass on to its official comments on the petition. At this point, Dr Attard Montalto objected strongly.
"Mr Chairman, this is not the way to conduct this committee. You were not even paying attention to what I was saying as you were speaking to your colleagues during my intervention. Now you want to stop me again! This is not a way how to conduct meetings in the EP and it's clear that you are prejudiced against Maltese hunters and their case. I want to continue with my remarks and at the same time include in the minutes that I have no confidence in you as Chairman of this committee."
Mr Libicki, stunned by Dr Attard Montalto's reaction, gave him the floor to continue. The committee was afterwards also addressed by FKNK representatives Lino Farrugia and Joe Perici Calascione.
At the end of the debate the Committee decided that it should await the judgment of the court case to outlaw spring hunting instituted by the Commission against Malta, as according to the Commission the practice breaches EU law.
The petition, signed by 31,000 individuals, protests against the Commission's decision to initiate infringement proceedings against Malta for breaches of the Birds Directive and calls on the Commission to honour its pre-accession agreement with the island. It states that spring hunting is part of the Maltese tradition and that previous common positions agreed by the Commission and Malta during the accession negotiations have been ignored.
On its part the Commission reiterated that while the Maltese government succeeded in gaining a transition period to allow the trapping of certain birds (finches) until the end of 2008, spring hunting was never covered by an exemption and is, therefore, subject to common EU rules, as set out in the Birds Directive.
Asked by The Times after the meeting whether he is supporting hunters in their case, Dr Attard Montalto said that he is on the hunters' side in this issue. However, he said that he still respected the concerns of those against hunting and wanted to help the two sides find a good compromise on this divisive issue.