In a rare show of agreement, Maltese hunters and conservationists welcomed a vote by the European Parliament to defend key regulations on the protection of birds.
MEPs on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to approve a report on the mid-term review of the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy, calling for the Birds and Habitats directives not to be reopened and reviewed. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker made such a review a priority at the start of his term.
The report was approved by a majority of 592 votes in favour and 52 against. All Maltese MEPS voted in favour, with the exception of the Nationalist Party’s David Casa, who did not vote.
Malta’s controversial spring hunting season, which was the subject of a referendum last April, arises from a derogation from the Birds Directive. The government applies a similar derogation to allow finch trapping, over which the country is facing action before the European Court of Justice.
When contacted for a reaction to the vote, the general secretary of the Federation for Hunting and Conservation (FKNK), Lino Farrugia said Maltese hunters had lobbied with European partners for the directives not to be reopened.
“Our view is that the directives are effective enough to ensure the necessary protection, as long as they are properly enforced,” Mr Farrugia said. “Therefore, we see the outcome as something positive.”
Birdlife Malta CEO Mark Sultana also welcomed the outcome of the vote, particularly in light of the support from the Maltese MEPs. But he went further, insisting that Malta’s derogations were incompatible with the message sent by the vote.
“This vote is in favour of nature and its protection,” he said. “We now expect action and hope that, particularly as the turtle dove status has unfortunately worsened to vulnerable, the government of Malta will not derogate from the same directives and open a hunting season in spring,” he said.
The European Parliament report, an “own-initiative” led by Belgian MEP Mark Demesmaeker, stressed that full implementation and enforcement of the regulations, collectively referred to as the Nature Directives, were needed to achieve the targets set out in the EU Biodiversity Strategy.
The strategy runs until 2020, by which time the EU has set itself the goal of halting biodiversity loss. To achieve this, Brussels has targets covering EU legislation on nature, agriculture, fisheries and invasive alien species as well as initiatives for restoring and connecting nature areas.