BirdLife Malta has called on the European Commission to issue an interim measure to stop trapping of finches, saying a legal notice issued recently by the government to allow the practice was undemocratic, unethical and illegal.
The government insisted on Sunday that the legal notice was issued in line with a European Court decision in September, a declaration which BirdLife disputes.
The NGO has written to the European Commissioner responsible for the environment, Maroš Šefčovič, noting that Malta had signed an agreement within the Accession Treaty to phase out trapping. The activity was phased out by 2009 but reintroduced in 2014 by the application of a derogation under the EU's Birds Directive.
In 2018 the European Cout declared finch trapping illegal but the government, 'determined to appease the trapping lobby', reintroduced the practice under the guise of a scientific study.
"The idea that trappers would catch finches and release them back immediately after checking if they were carrying any scientific rings on them was a farce that led the EU Commission to challenge this practice once again before the EU Court – a process which ended with the clear sentence on 19th September 2024 finding Malta has failed to fulfil its obligations," BirdLife said.
"Just a month later, the Maltese Government has disregarded the Accession Treaty, the ECJ ruling in 2018 and the recent ECJ ruling in case 23/23, and has once again opened a derogation for finch trapping disguised as scientific. The Maltese cabinet of Ministers led by Prime Minister Dr Robert Abela has decided to bulldoze over the rule of law and disregard the decision of the ECJ," it added.
BirdLife said that not only would 'tens of thousands of protected finches' be trapped to die after months in captivity but the government had not even dialogued with the EU Commission to agree on the best way forward following the ECJ ruling.
"Prime Minister Dr Robert Abela has no intention of doing what is right unless he faces the full determination of the EU Commission for his actions. With the utmost respect, we must insist that the EU Commission invests enough energy and resources to open a procedure under Article 260 of the Treaty without any delay and implement an interim measure to close this illegal trapping season immediately," BirdLife said.