An out-of-court settlement on Malta's finch trapping case at the European Court of Justice is not possible at this point in time, EU Commissioner Karmenu Vella told Maltese hunters during a meeting.

In a statement this afternoon, the Federation for Hunting and Conservation said they had asked whether this was at all possible during a meeting with Mr Vella in Brussels.

President Joe Perici Calascione told Mr Vella during the meeting that no stone would be left unturned to ensure that both hunting and trapping “would never be abolished”.

The Commission, he said, was “incessantly targeting its smallest member state despite all tremendous efforts continuously being done to conform with the directive.”

The FKNK presented Mr Vella with a paper - to be published in the coming days - on the Maltese Traditional Socio-Cultural Passions of Turtle Dove Hunting in Spring and Live-Finch Capturing.

The paper, the FKNK said, explained the current situation with regards to both traditions.

FKNK CEO Lino Farrugia said the paper explained that the Malta moratorium's suspension of the turtle dove spring hunt would never contribute to the stabilisation, let alone, increase the turtle dove population.

“The FKNK is sure that a ban on the spring hunting of turtle dove on Malta would not prevent the decline of the species, nor would its effect be detectable,” he said, adding that “it is rather unfair of the Commission to expect the hunters to solve the turtle dove problem, as this is not a hunting issue, especially considering the IUCN’s stated main causes for the turtle dove’s decline which are far removed from hunting".