The government has pressed the alarm button with the European Commission through its application of a derogation for trapping of four species of birds, the Hunters' Federation said this evening.

Referring to the government's statement that it required more information and assessments before applying for a derogation to allow trapping, the FKNK insisted that such a derogation was not necessary for the trapping of birds that could be hunted, such as quails, turtle doves, golden plovers and song thrushes.

The government's action, the FKNK said, led one to suspect that it wanted to eradicate trapping.

This could also be linked to BirdLife's campaign to destroy trapping, which campaign was initiated two years ago, for which the government had approved a grant of €375,000 from the people's taxes. Recently, it approved another grant of around €500,000 to BirdLife.

If the government really wanted to be in line with the Birds' Directive, it should have approved a trapping derogation as proposed by the FKNK, which had also provided the government with the necessary tools for this to be done in the correct manner.