The Prime Minister said yesterday he would be prepared to go back to the European Court of Justice over the issue of spring hunting to defend Malta’s rights despite the risk of incurring millions of euros in fines.

This was not a question of risk but of rights, Lawrence Gonzi said when asked whether the government would prefer to find a solution to the issue with the European Commission in order to avoid being hauled back before the ECJ. “We can’t base our decision to defend our rights on whether there is a risk of paying fines or not. We will try to find a solution with the Commission, however, we are prepared to go all the way if we think we are right.”

Dr Gonzi said Malta had already won the first case against the Commission over spring hunting and he defended the government’s stand that a limited spring hunting season as envisaged by Malta would be legal and in line with the September 2009 ECJ decision.

The government is still engaged in talks with Brussels over its desire to introduce a three-week hunting season from next year, with a hunting bag limit of 25,000 birds.

However, the EU Executive last Wednesday demanded the government change framework legislation introduced in April to this effect, under threat of being taken back to court.

According to the Commission, allowing 25,000 turtle doves and quails to be killed in spring would be going much too far and would not respect the ECJ.

The Court had ruled that Malta did not respect the provisions of the EU’s Birds Directive when it allowed a full-blown spring hunting season to take place between 2004 and 2007. At the same time, it recognised that Malta might allow a “limited” season as hunting in autumn was a sufficient alternative to spring.

Following the court case, Brussels has only allowed Malta a season of a week’s duration, with a national bag of 7,500 birds.