BirdLife lodges complaint with EU

BirdLife Malta and BirdLife International have lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission about Malta's failure to adequately transpose the Birds Directive into national legislation and implement it.

In a letter to Environment Commissioner Stavros C. Dimas, BirdLife Malta asked the Commission to investigate and take steps to ensure that Malta complies with the acquis communautaire.

Addressing a news conference yesterday, BirdLife Malta president Joseph Mangion said the complaint focused mainly on Malta's failure to integrate the provisions of the directive in the Protection of Birds and Wild Rabbit Regulations. BirdLife also argued that Malta was breaching three articles of the directive.

Malta was in breach of the directive because of the hunting of turtledoves and quail between March 25 and May 22, since this season overlapped the pre-nuptial migration season of the species, he said.

Mr Mangion said that a derogation in this case could not be applied, primarily because the directive was not transposed in local legislation.

But even if this had been the case, Malta would still not have fulfilled the conditions of the relevant article of the directive, since the population of turtledoves and quails had seen a big decline in the past 20 years.

He said that in respect of the hunting at sea of 12 waterfowl species, the hunting season, which extended to the end of February, also overlapped the spring (pre-nuptial) migration of these species, to varying degrees. This was also in breach of the directive.

Mr Mangion said Malta was further breaching EU law by allowing the trapping of turtledoves and quail from September 1 to January 31 and from March 25 to May 22 and that of song thrushes and golden plovers from September 1 to January 31. The directive prohibited such activities.

He also pointed out that Malta was not respecting the agreed conditions in the transition period negotiated for the trapping of seven species of finch.

For by allowing the finch trapping season to extend to April 10, it was not honouring the condition that "measures taken during the transitional measure shall be in full accordance with the principles governing the timing of hunting of migratory birds" as outlined in the directive.

Data, Mr Mangion said, showed that these finches were on their return migration to breed in Europe by the end of January at the latest. Moreover, some were likely to breed in Malta if left unmolested. In this period trapping should not be allowed, otherwise EU law would be infringed, he insisted.

Maltese law, Mr Mangion said, also failed to impose a limitation on the maximum speed of craft used for hunting at sea. This was also against the directive.

BirdLife Malta said that together with BirdLife International it was committed to ensuring a safe future for birds in Europe, which was why one of its key objectives was the proper transportation of the EU Birds Directive into national legislation - in Malta and in other member states.

The Commission had the responsibility to ensure that all EU member states honoured their obligations and no bad precedents should be created. Mr Mangion said that Cyprus was keeping a close eye on developments of Malta's case.

So if no progress was made soon by the government, BirdLife would call on the Commission to open a formal infringement procedure, which could ultimately lead to a ruling of the European Court of Justice, imposing fines on Malta, Mr Mangion said.

Contacted for a reaction, a spokesman for the Environment Ministry said Malta had a very positive record concerning the transposition and implementation of EU directives.

This, she said, was confirmed last week in a statement by the Commission.

The spokesman said she was sure BirdLife's complaint would be analysed by the Commission with all the attention it deserved.

"Malta has no intention of not fulfilling its obligations under its treaty of accession, including those related to the Birds Directive," the spokesman said.