Updated | Brussels demands end to trapping as Ornis recommends new season

The European Commission will proceed on an infringement procedure against Malta for opening a finch trapping season, after closing an infringement procedure on spring hunting this week.

MaltaToday had reported that the Maltese government will be receiving a ‘reasoned opinion’ from the European Commission, giving it two months to comply with the reasoned opinion, which comes eight months after the government received a formal complaint in October 2014 for opening the season.

If the Maltese government refuses to comply with the EU, the Commission may ask the Court of Justice to start litigation procedures against Malta. Muscat can be expected to be advised by his legal team not to go to the ECJ over the matter and comply with the request to close the season.

Member States may derogate from the requirement of strict protection only in the absence of other satisfactory solutions, and provided that the population of the species concerned is maintained at a satisfactory level.

As these conditions are not met in this case, the Commission sent a letter of formal notice in October 2014, urging Malta to refrain from finch trapping. Malta went ahead with the derogation as planned and does not agree with the Commission’s position, so the Commission is now sending a reasoned opinion. If Malta fails to act within two months, the case may be referred to the EU Court of Justice.

BirdLife reaction

BirdLife Malta welcomed the Commission’s intervention on trapping, calling for the government to heed the warning and ban the practice.

The formal warning comes after the Ornis Committee on 27 May recommended that trapping be continued this autumn, despite knowing that it would escalate EC legal proceedings against Malta. BirdLife Malta was the only member of the committee to vote against it.

Nicholas Barbara, BirdLife Malta’s Conservation Manager and Ornis Committee member, said: “The committee were fully aware of the open EC case against Malta on finch trapping, and so the FKNK, MEPA and three government-appointed independent members voted to approve finch trapping in full awareness that they were placing the country at risk of a court case in the European Court of Justice. We urge the government to heed the EC’s warning, and ban finch trapping now.”

The Ornis Committee also refused to endorse a limit on the number of trapping licences that can be issued. Barbara said this could see a further increase in the number of trappers, and yet more degradation of land in the countryside for use as trapping sites.

Their recommendation also failed to include provision for better enforcement, after a report released by the government’s Wild Birds Regulation Unit suggested that last autumn’s finch trapping season was rife with false reporting.

The highest declarations of birds caught came on the very last days of the season, when the threat of early closure had passed. Independent studies showed no corresponding increase in the numbers of birds migrating through Malta at that time. “The European Commission does not believe that the trapping of wild finches for recreational purposes is a justified practice. BirdLife Malta will continue to put pressure on both the Maltese government and on the European Commission to ban finch trapping once and for all”.

Spring hunting infringement closed

MaltaToday is also informed that the College of Commissioners have decided to close an infringement proceeding against Malta on spring hunting.

In July 2006, the Commission opened procedures against the government for not respecting the conditions for a derogation from the Birds Directive to open the spring hunting season.

In 2009, the EC opened a case against Malta in the Court of Justice which later ruled against Malta but recognised that spring hunting for quails and turtledoves was not a satisfactory alternative to autumn hunting.

The Commission’s decision to close the infringement proceedings takes into consideration an extensive report on the spring hunting season in 2014 which was submitted by the Maltese government to the Commission.

Sources close to the Ministry for European Affairs told MaltaToday that the closure of this infringement procedure was “a vindication of the government’s policy to respect Malta’s obligations and allow Maltese hunters to enjoy a traditional sport without excessive regulations.”

Maltese hunters have benefited from hunting on Sundays and public holidays, a change in fees, and the removal of armbands.

The Commission is expected to announce reasoned opinions on finch trapping and the other about the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive.

Malta will in due course reply to these reasoned opinions, with the government confident that BRRD infringement will be closed reasonably early given that the necessary legislation has already been presented in Parliament.

The Commission’s decision on the Marsa power station infringement, which had been opened in February 2012, was taken after the government wrote to the Commission informing it that the last unit in the power station had been switched off, as well as that the interconnector between Sicily and Malta had become operational on 9 April.