Hunters and trappers have a new target: the European Commission

Updated 12pm with Kaċċaturi San Ubertu statement

Hunters and trappers have accused the European Commission of working with BirdLife Malta and EURING to punish Malta. 

In a statement on Sunday, hunting and trapping federation FKNK implied that the Commission had relied on Birdlife and EURING when drafting its most recent infringement notice against Malta. 

“Following a quick read-through of the infringement formal notice letter, the FKNK believes that BLM and EURING instigated the infringement as a ‘pay-back’ gesture against Malta’s recent amendment to the relevant legislation, which removed any direct reference to EURING,” hunting and trapping federation FKNK said in a statement on Sunday morning.

“The insults and unfounded, BLM-influenced assumptions in the vocabulary of the letter, such as the allegation that the Finches Research Programme has scientific purposes, does not pursue genuine research, is hunting in disguise and the ‘cherry on the cake’ that it does not ensure appropriate enforcement, are not becoming of the EC and clearly reflect the language we have all become accustomed to from BLM.”

It was not immediately clear which formal notice letter FKNK was quoting from, as the formal notice published by the European Commission on its website on Friday does not contain any of those phrases.

Attempts to contact FKNK for clarification were unsuccessful.

A second hunting and trapping lobby group, Kaċċaturi San Ubertu, made similar claims in a statement of its own. 

"The European Commission persists in its denigration of Malta's trappers with no intention to verify fact but based purely on the fabrications of Birdlife Malta, an organization it funded and blindly supported to ban bird trapping," the group said. 

The Commission’s public notice only noted that Malta had adopted a new finch trapping on October 17 for “’alleged’ scientific purposes and said it believes “ that the derogation adopted by Malta does not pursue a genuine research purpose and reintroduces recreational hunting in disguise despite previous Court rulings. In addition, it does not demonstrate the lack of other satisfactory solutions and does not ensure appropriate enforcement.”

It therefore gave Malta two months to address shortcomings or else have the matter inch closer to another legal showdown before the European Court of Justice.

The Commission has already sued Malta – and won – on that issue some years ago. But the Maltese government subsequently restored finch trapping by announcing that trappers would be taking part in a scientific research programme to trap and release the birds.

The European Court of Justice also ruled against that programme. Malta once again allowed finch trapping, saying the ECJ ruling had only requested more detail about the scientific basis of the programme.

Its most recent derogation was announced just days after Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, himself a trapper, met with European Commissioner Jessika Roswell to discuss finch trapping.

Despite the subject matter of the meeting, Camilleri did not inform Roswell that Malta would be once again allowing finch trapping this year. The Commission only learnt about that from media reports.

In its statement, the FKNK said it believed the Commission was out to make Malta pay for having amended laws to cut EURING out of the equation.

That controversy stems from a legal notice introduced just weeks ago which removed references to EURING in local law.

EURING is Europe’s bird ringing regulation body and Birdlife Malta is its sole recognised partner in Malta. The legal amendment means hunters can now ring birds themselves without requiring any EURING or Birdlife Malta involvement.

Hunters and trappers say eliminating EURING from local laws was unfair and gave it and Birdlife an effective monopoly on bird ringing.

The FKNK said the European Commission “should not forsake its sovereign role nor forget that it is cultural diversity that makes the EU unique, and that it stands for unity, not uniformity.”

It also offered the government and Minister Camilleri its “expert advice” on the finch trapping issue.

Kaċċaturi San Ubertu also offered the government its support, saying it backed it in stand against European Commission "bullying". 

"With its years of a monopoly on Bird Ringing and Euring, Birdlife Malta openly opposed the changes in our laws that permitted hunters or trappers to become bird ringers and their right to form ringing schemes," the organisation said.

"This after all is what several other EU member states permit and the use of clap nets, identical to those utilized locally are no novelty."