Hunters and birders alike were left without a satisfactory answer regarding whether or not this year’s spring hunting season will open as usual, after the Ornis Committee met yesterday but failed to make any recommendations in view of the pending case against Malta in the European Court of Justice
The Ornis Committee is composed of representatives of the hunters’ and environmentalist lobbies, and convened yesterday at the MEPA offices in Floriana for a meeting which lasted just over three hours.
On the agenda were the dates for this year’s spring hunting season: Malta being the only EU member state to still permit the taking of wild game during the breeding season. But in view of the ongoing infringement procedures, the committee simply decided not to take any decision at all.
The resulting impasse is likely to add to the growing tension surrounding an already volatile situation. Each year since accession to the European Union in 2004, the government has opened the spring hunting season in defiance of the European Commission’s objections, insisting that it had secured a special exemption during pre-accession negotiations. However, the EC has argued that such an exemption can only apply in the absence of any reasonable alternative; and that in any case, Malta had never actually sent in a formal application for any derogation.
After the government refused to phase out spring hunting late last year, the Commission finally opened a case against Malta in the European Court of Justice on February 1, requesting the court to take interim measures in the event that the government opens the season while the case is still under way.
The spring season usually opens around 10 April and lasts until 22 May.

Meanwhile, the Environment Ministry has consistently refused to take a clear stand on the issue of this year’s season, with Minister George Pullicino deflecting any direct question on the subject by claiming that the decision depends entirely on recommendations of Ornis.
“The law establishes that the Ornis Committee makes its recommendations to government, and government decides after due consideration,” Pullicino told this newspaper on 22 January. “Before the government takes any position on the issue, the recommendations of Ornis still have to be made.”
This stand has earned the minister criticism from both sides in an increasingly acrimonious debate. BirdLife Malta has time and again urged the government to bring the country in line with European legislation by phasing out hunting in spring, and trapping at all times of the year.
On its part, the hunters’ and trappers’ federation (FKNK) has repeatedly accused Pullicino of using the Ornis Committee as a screen (“paraventu”) to conceal his reluctance to make a commitment one way or another.
But now that Ornis has passed up the opportunity to make any recommendations as established by law, the decision would appear to rest directly with the minister himself.
Attempts to contact Pullicino yesterday evening to ask him whether he intends to take any decision at all – either to open the season, or to declare spring hunting a thing of the past – proved futile.
FKNK secretary general Lino Farrugia also refused point blank to issue any comment to MaltaToday: a newspaper with which he is currently in litigation.

rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt