Labour leader Alfred Sant yesterday was non-committal over whether a new Labour government will open the spring hunting season or not if Environment Minister George Pullicino refuses to take a decision by the 8 March.
On his part, Pullicino yesterday told MaltaToday that he had kicked the ball back into the Ornis Committee’s court, asking chairman Louis Cilia to reconvene the committee and give him a clear recommendation in favour or against opening the spring hunting season.
Addressing a press conference outside a pig-breeding farm in Ghasri, Gozo, Sant adopted a wait-and-see approach on the hunting question:
“We’ll see about it when we get to that point,” Sant said when asked what a Labour government would do on spring hunting if government takes no decision before the election.
The Ornis committee last Tuesday decided it would not issue any recommendation to the minister over opening the spring hunting season, which runs from 10 April to 22 May, due to a pending European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on the matter. The European Commission has referred Malta to the ECJ for illegally opening the spring season every year for the last four years.
But while the Ornis stalemate now leaves it up to the environment minister to take political responsibility for this decision three weeks before election day, Pullicino has now kicked the ball back into the committee’s court.
Asked what action he will take after Ornis left the decision up to him, Pullicino said: “I have sent for the Ornis chairman again on this. We are awaiting the rescheduling of a date for a meeting on the issue.”
Asked whether this meant he is passing the buck back to Ornis, Pullicino said he did not wish to comment any further.
But Pullicino’s tactic is a clever, delaying tactic to bide his time before a ruling from the ECJ which could materialise before election day, and finally seal the position of both parties on spring hunting.
BirdLife Malta had initially insisted that it should be the government to take responsibility for this decision, rather than having Ornis “recommending” the opening of the season or not. To the delight of the hunters’ federation FKNK, Ornis decided not to pronounce itself on the matter.
Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Harry Vassallo yesterday said he expected government to enforce EU law. “AD worked for Malta to join the EU. At that time everything was clear as from day one. We never deceived anybody, and we expect that now EU law is enforced by the Maltese government and spring hunting is stopped”.
Earlier in the day, Alfred Sant addressed a conference of Gozitan associations and councillors at San Lawrenz. In answer to a question by Joe Perici Calascione, public relations officer of the hunters’ federation, Sant said hunting was a “legitimate, traditional pastime” but reiterated again that “as long as EU laws on hunting are respected, we can see ways of working together,” answering to Perici Calascione’s question on creating more shooting ranges in Gozo and for land management projects with hunters.
Sant also said it was his “dream” to have “a reserve that is jointly managed by BirdLife Malta and the FKNK.”