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I agree with most of Ms Bonello’s arguments about the huge U-turn effected by the government on spring hunting. The burden of this decision will have to be borne by us loyal tax paying citizens.
However I think that Ms Bonello’s view of the Labour Party as “fence-sitting” on this issue is incorrect. During a Friday debate on TV, Dr Sant stated that his party had a clear position prior to EU accession. But in the present circumstances (i.e. as an EU member state), a future Labour government will have to abide by EU Laws. To be fair, he also stated that his government would also be re-examining the issue to try find a balance between hunters and EU directives (if such a balance can exist).
Finally, Ms Bonello observed that Labour spokesman on the environment, Mr Roderick Galdes, “shied away from giving a definite answer as to whether his party would defend the derogation”. I disagree with her, but only on the word “derogation”. This is due to the fact that on Tuesday 13 March, the EU’s Environment Commisioner Stavros Dimas was reported as telling the EU parliament that the Maltese Government had never negotiated to keep spring hunting.
So can someone explain to us intelligent citizens if a derogation on this issue really exists or was it just another Nationalist government’s last resort tactic to grab votes?
Chris Zammit
Marsaxlokk |
