In France, the live-capturing (trapping) of Ortolan Buntings (small song birds), although illegal, since the practice is undertaken without the application of a derogation from the EU Birds Directive, is regarded as a socio-cultural tradition and thus has always been tolerated by the French authorities.
The European Commission took France to court in 2016 over its failure to protect the wild bird and last August the French government announced tougher measures to fight the practice. On November 14 the Commission dropped its infringement case against France.
In the Maltese islands the centuries-old custom of capturing live-finch (and other species of small song birds), colloquially referred to as trapping, and the keeping of any caught finch, is a deeply rooted socio-cultural tradition that is passionately practised by thousands of Maltese trappers and constitutes their very own way of life.
The practice of live-finch capturing was not permitted on the islands from 2009 to 2013, and since 2014 the practice has again been permitted by the application of a correct derogation which includes the taking of small numbers by selective, manually operated methods, eventual judicious use of the caught birds that are kept alive, and strict control. Any breaches are punished by the harshest and heaviest penalties and fines anywhere in Europe. The Commission took Malta to court in 2016 over live-finch capturing, and at present the European Court’s verdict is awaited.
Since France never applied for a derogation to permit trapping, and the EU dropped its case on the basis that France “announced tougher measures”, isn’t the EU picking on Malta, considering that the Maltese government is doing everything above board by applying the correct derogation with a proper implementation and monitoring system that includes penalties?
Hence, Malta seems to be punished for following the rules. Or is the EU, again, using Malta to send a message to the other Member States?
Furthermore, could 2018 bring about the abolishment of a Maltese cultural practice by the EU that promotes culture as a vital element in its international relations - which have been one of the three main objectives of the European Agenda for Culture since 2007? 2018 marks the European Year of Cultural Heritage – when Malta’s capital city, Valletta, will be the European Capital of Culture.
Surely, the EU is conscious of the domino effect that the eradication of Malta’s trapping will have on other EU countries, namely Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Austria. In fact, in Austria, where the same species of finches as the ones caught in Malta are trapped by similar methods used by Maltese trappers, the practice of live-finch trapping has been classified as an Intangible Cultural Heritage under Unesco.