Has the government not read the EU Accession Treaty?

As if my article "On fundamentalists, mandates and votes" was not enough to remove any doubt on the European Union's unequivocal stand on never having guaranteed to allow spring hunting in Malta, together with the EU's also unequivocal demand that spring hunting is stopped immediately, another article shows up in The Times with further questions to Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, together with his unequivocal replies.

Commissioner Stavros Dimas, in today's article in The Times, is quoted as saying: "Derogations are only given if the conditions providing for them are met. The main condition is that spring hunting becomes possible if no sufficient alternatives exist. Although the Maltese authorities invoke this as the reason for allowing spring hunting, we have found that there are sufficient alternatives in autumn and, so, we have not granted any derogation. This also means that Malta must come in line with EU rules and stop hunting in spring."

Yes, once again Commissioner Stavros Dimas unequivocally tells us that Malta must stop hunting in spring.

Commissioner Stavros Dimas continues: "Last July, we sent a first warning letter to Malta on the 2004 season and until today we don't have an answer. Last week we extended the grounds of the infringement. We are not accusing Malta any longer on the 2004 season but on the general granting of derogations and the principle of hunting in spring. I tell you what I know and what everybody knows because all the papers and agreements between the Commission and member states are public and there are no secret documents. The part Malta can derogate is there and it is provided by our same rules. But the derogation will be granted by the Commission only if the conditions and the requirements described in EU law are complied with and this applies to everyone. As I told you before, we had similar issues like Malta's with other member states in the past. Our position is the same one we agreed in the Accession Treaty and everybody knows about it. If there are people claiming they do not know, it means they haven't read the Accession Treaty. When you enter the EU, you get all the advantages but also all the obligations".

There you have it, in black on white. The government has no excuse. Spring hunting should be abolished immediately, and if the government does not abolish spring hunting, it risks being taken to the European Court and fined. The government is duty bound not to burden Maltese tax-payers with additional taxes to make up for the fines imposed by the European Union, simply because of the hard-headedness and political dishonesty of the Nationalist government. This, apart from the fact that the government is morally obliged to do everything in its power to stop the unnecessary killing of all sentient animals, including birds.

Of course, the government wouldn't care about the fate of non-human animals. Perhaps it will care about the loss of votes from animal rights activists, environmentalists, and people who do not want further tax burdens just so that the government may keep an immoral promise to the bird killers.