A Facebook post by the economy minister blaming the Nationalist Party for a criminal complaint over the granting of spring hunting licences was slammed as ridiculous by PN leader Adrian Delia on Wednesday.

The criminal complaint was actually filed by NGO Birdlife Malta, which insists that the licences were issued illegally.

Minister Silvio Schembri wrote that the PN had "always been against hunting".

This time, he said, individuals had filed a complaint asking the police to act against 6000 hunters. Such people, he said, did everything to destroy their Maltese brothers despite knowing that any breach of the regulations they quoted carried a maximum fine of €10,000 or two years imprisonment.

In his retort, Delia said one could now understand why unemployment had risen by 28 percent in a month.

It had happened because the minister supposedly overseeing the economy was wasting his time and taxpayers' money by writing ridiculous statements on Facebook to supposedly pander to hunters. 

"This sorry situation is indicative of the government's total disrespect to the hundreds of workers who have lost jobs," Delia said.   

The statement was also signed by PN deputy leader David Agius and Claudio Grech. shadow minister for the economy. 

Labour accuses Delia

In a reaction, the Labour Party said the opposition leader had accused Schembri of wasting time when what he was doing was to speak out for the rights of hunters.

While the government had said that the criminal complaint was unfounded, Delia had not condemned it. Delia was therefore making the criminal application his own.