It’s called the waiting game, and some participants have more fun playing it than others.
BirdLife Malta is among the players that enjoy it; FKNK, the hunters and trappers’ federation, is not. Ornis Committee members are very good at it, having at least two years of practice under their belt; but it is difficult to say what the Office of the Prime Minister makes of this game, as the stakes are getting higher with each passing week.
They are all waiting for the ruling of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which earlier this month heard the Commission’s case requesting interim measures against Malta to prevent the spring hunting season from being opened this year.
The hearing took place on 2 April, and three weeks later no verdict is yet in sight.
Yesterday, FKNK officials addressed a press conference outside Castille in Valletta, where PRO Joe Perici Calascione outlined the hunters’ grievances, reminded the government of its pre-referendum promises, and deliberately withheld the federation’s traditional condemnation of illegal hunting incidents.
The police arrested at least 10 for illegal hunting on Tuesday, and over the weekend two arrests were made over anonymous SMSes calling for a violent protest at Ta’ Qali.
Perici Calascione pointed out that unlike the ECJ, which had adopted a leisurely attitude towards the case, Maltese hunters were “psychologically destroyed” by the endless wait. A spokesman for the ECJ meanwhile told this newspaper that no such ruling was likely before the end of the month; and even though the Prime Minister could use the delay as an excuse to open what little remains of the season, he technically still needs the recommendations of Ornis Committee before announcing any dates.
This complicates the rules of the waiting game further still, for the Ornis Committee is currently in limbo. Its chairman Louis Cilia told MaltaToday that at present, the committee members have all resigned, as is standard practice for government boards and departments after every election.
Even in the unlikely scenario that the Prime Minister accedes to the FKNK’s request to re-open the season, by law there would still be a minimum four-week period between the date of the next Ornis Committee meeting, and the official opening of the hunting season. So if (for argument’s sake) Ornis were to convene tomorrow, the spring hunting season cannot realistically open before 12 May… around a week before it traditionally closes.