There has been no official answer from government and a disquieting silence has followed the reasoned opinion sent by the European Commission to the Maltese government on closing the hunting season for spring next year.
European Commission Stavros Dimas has warned Malta not to even consider opening the season next spring, after its repeated opening of the hunting season in spring in breach of the Birds Directive.
With an upcoming general election, the present administration is aware of the backlash that an unguarded statement on not resuming hunting would mean in terms of hunters’ votes in traditional Nationalist strongholds in the north and in Gozo.
But only last Sunday, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi stated the government had no intention of paying fines incurred by the European Court of Justice – an indication that the government will abide by the court decision on the matter if it is taken to court by the Commission.
Without specifying it, the Maltese government is biding its time until the issue is dragged into the European Court. The move may placate some of those in the hunting community who are being told the administration is doing ‘everything possible’ to allow Maltese hunters to hunt for turtle doves and quail in spring.
But it is highly unlikely the European Court of Justice will give Malta any special concession. The bad reputation Malta has over indiscriminate hunting will not help.
No member state in Europe has yet acquired a special concession to continue hunting in spring. Even Spain failed to get a concession from the EU when it argued that its colonies in North Africa, Ceuta and Melila, had a unique setting and atypical conditions. Spain too wanted its hunters there to shoot turtle doves and quails.
The Commission however responded that Spain’s two colonies were recipients of EU aid and part of EU territory and therefore both enclaves fell under the mandatory requirements of the Birds Directive,
With 2008 also being the last year for the trapping of birds in Malta, the probability of convincing the hunting and trapping fraternity that next year augurs well for them remains an impossible task. The reasoned opinion – the second in the stage of infringement procedures launched against a member state – has certainly not helped.