[WATCH] Busuttil will support hunting derogation, gives MPs free vote

PN leader Simon Busuttil supports spring hunting • Video by Ray Attard

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil has announced he will vote in favour of the derogation on spring hunting but said that he will give his MPs a free vote and the liberty to personally support the derogation.

"I will not tie down the party with a vote, but personally I will vote in favour of the derogation," Busuttil said, saying he would remain consistent in his stand on the derogation from the EU's ban on spring hunting, which Malta invokes.

Busuttil has already gone on record saying that the PN believes spring hunting should be retained under strict controls and that it was instrumental in retaining Malta's right to derogate from the EU ban when the European Commission took Malta to the European Court of Justice.

Just announced that I shall be voting in favour of the deragotion that WE negotiated to permit limited and controlled hunting in Spring.

— Simon Busuttil (@SimonBusuttil) January 17, 2015

But the Opposition leader this time said he will not commit his party to a position on spring hunting. "I will vote in favour of the derogation we ourselves achieved," Busuttil said.

 “I'm not a hunter, and I love animals and the environment. But I was personally involved in the EU negotiations [for a derogation]. This derogation was not won by Joseph Muscat. This was a derogation we got. I achieved it myself as well, because it was needed. And we defended it for years afterwards, both here and in Brussels, because to me a promise must be kept and cannot be reneged, and that's what I mean by honest politics."

Jien naqbel mal-pozizzjoni tal-Kap tal-Oppozizzjoni http://t.co/8eGnjU2nFc http://t.co/ieBi0O5wsR

— Jason Azzopardi (@AzzopardiJason) January 17, 2015