Last updated 6.25pm with Birdlife reaction below.
The European Commission has initiated infringement proceedings against Malta for allowing trapping on the pretext of scientific research and for hunting derogations in breach of the Birds Directive.
In a statement, the European Commission said it is calling on Malta to correctly apply the Birds Directive, which requires a general system of protection for wild birds and allows derogations only subject to strict conditions.
"The European Green Deal and the European Biodiversity Strategy indicate that it is crucial for the EU to halt biodiversity loss by protecting and restoring biodiversity. Malta has authorised derogations for the spring hunting of quail every year since 2011 and derogations for autumn live-capturing of song thrush and golden plover each year since 2012. These derogations fall short systematically of the requirements set out in the legislation, related in particular to poor supervision of the conditions set out in the derogations, which results in other species than those targeted being affected.
"Relying on insufficient or inaccurate information about the populations of wild birds and the available alternatives, Malta also failed to fulfil the basic conditions for granting such derogations. Not least, the high numbers of wild birds illegally shot in Malta constitute a major and systemic failure to establish a general system of protection as required by Article 5 of the Birds Directive," it added.
"Separately, Malta has also recently authorised finch trapping for research purposes, having authorised finch trapping for recreational purposes for several years, an action which was found to be non-compliant with the Birds Directive by the Court of Justice of the EU.
"In particular, the Commission considers that the new derogation scheme adopted in October 2020 authorising the trapping of finches for research purposes circumvents the judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU, by permitting trapping of finches in similar conditions as before this ruling, even if under a different regime."
The commission said it had sent two letters of formal notice to Malta.
Malta now has two months to remedy the situation, otherwise the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion, the next step in legal action.
Government: 'Committed to defend interests of hunters, trappers'
In a reaction, the government said it remained committed to defending the interests and protecting the rights of hunters and trappers,
as these rights are protected in various other European member states.
The government said it is convinced that the derogations applied are in conformity with the European Union’s Birds Directive, claiming that a higher system of enforcement is applied locally beyond that demanded by the European Commission itself.
With regard to the trapping of Golden Plover and Song Thrush, it said it
was the European Commission itself that requested amendments to the national legal framework in order to conform with the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the trapping of songbirds.
Furthermore, it was the Court of Justice itself that declared, in 2009, that in the case of Malta, there is no other solution to the hunting of pigeons and quail in Malta.
In November 2019, the European Commission asked the Maltese authorities to further analyse the reference population of the two species of bird. The Ornis Committee subsequently unanimously agreed that a research project on the reference population of Golden Plover and Song Thrush takes
place.
The government said it remains committed to continue discussing the matter with the European Commission to clarify the various divergences, while ensuring that the traditional hobby of hunters and trappers remain protected with full respect to the legislation in place and not accepting any abuse.
BirdLife urges government to suspend hunting derogations
In a hastily-called press conference, BirdLife Malta officials called on the government to heed the EU’s warnings and immediately suspend the derogations.
"The fact that the action by the European Commission on the new finch trapping derogation comes only a few weeks after the commencement of the season, clearly shows that the EU is, rightly so, sceptical about this so-called “scientific study” and proves BirdLife Malta right in its earlier statements," the NGO said.
Previous disputes
Malta has been in legal hot water over hunting and trapping before.
In 2009 European Court ruled that Malta had broken EU rules when it allowed Spring hunting.
In 2011 it was announced that agreement had been reached between Malta and the EU to allow limited hunting in the spring.
But in 2014 Brussels sent a "reasoned opinion" to Malta regarding spring hunting. It spelt out clearly why Malta should change its laws and do away with spring hunting.
In 2018, The European Court of Justice ruled that Malta's bird-trapping violates EU law, as the practice impacts bird populations.