Malta will abide by EU court's decision

Ivan Camilleri reports in today's The Times:

"The government yesterday said it would not permit hunting to take place this spring if the European Court of Justice (ECJ) upholds a request filed by the European Commission.

The Commission has asked the court to issue a temporary order barring the Maltese authorities from allowing spring hunting until a case initiated by the EU executive against Malta is decided.

Reacting immediately to an official statement issued in Brussels by the Commission yesterday, the government made it clear that it will respect any decision taken by the ECJ. It stressed that it will not be paying any fines over this question.

'The Maltese government agrees that this issue should be resolved by the European Court of Justice once and for all', the government said in a statement.

'While making its case according to the law, the government declares from now that it will abide by any decision taken by the court'.

The European Commission yesterday officially announced that it has decided to take Malta to court over spring hunting following various written warnings sent to the island since June 2006.

The Commission added that in order to make sure that hunting is not permitted even from the coming spring, it had decided to apply for interim measures to be issued immediately by the ECJ.

'In its final written warning in October 2007, the Commission called on Malta not to permit spring hunting in 2008. Responding in January 2008, Malta did not give a firm commitment in this regard. As a result, the Commission will refer the case to the European Court of Justice'.

'Given that the spring hunting season is imminent, the Commission will also apply to the Court for interim measures, asking Malta not to allow spring hunting in 2008'.

The decision by the ECJ to issue temporary measures is expected be taken in the coming weeks, well in time before the next spring hunting season is scheduled to start, around March 20.

A source at the ECJ yesterday said the court will now assign a judge to this case and the President of the court will decide what procedure to use in order to hear the preliminary submissions and decide whether to issue interim measures.

The source made it clear that it is very likely, almost certain, that the ECJ will uphold the Commission's request and issue temporary measures.

In its statement, the EU executive explained in detail what brought the issue with Malta to a head including a particular judgment given by the ECJ in 2005 which changed the scenario on how derogations under the Birds Directive are to be applied.

The Commission again confirmed that spring hunting was discussed during Malta's accession negotiations and that Malta maintained that in allowing the hunting of quail and turtle dove in spring it was acting in accordance with the possibility for limited derogation as foreseen under Article 9 of the directive. Documents in this regard were formally exchanged during the Intergovernmental Conference on Malta's accession to the European Union.

'Following a request from Malta during these negotiations, the Commission had confirmed that a derogation would be possible if the strict conditions set out in the Wild Birds Directive were met', it said.

However, the Commission said that when checks were made, particularly using data supplied by hunters, it resulted that Malta's derogation was not justified.

'In the Commission's opinion, the circumstances that would allow such a derogation, which include the absence of alternative solutions, are not present in this case, as can be borne out by the data (Carnet de Chasse figures) provided by the Maltese hunters themselves for the autumn hunting season'.

The Commission said that a court ruling at the end of 2005 involving a similar case to Malta also changed the scenario.

Meanwhile, Birdlife International and Birdlife Malta, who had been lobbying for yesterday's decision since Malta's accession to the EU, welcomed the move and appealed to both Maltese political parties to declare that they won't be permitting hunting to take place during spring ever again.

'Unfortunately, the Maltese government has missed many opportunities in the past to solve this case and to avoid European-wide embarrassment for the country', stated Konstantin Kreiser, EU policy manager at BirdLife in Brussels.

Referring to the upcoming general election in Malta and the possible political impact of this decision, Joseph Mangion, president of BirdLife Malta said that both major political parties should make their positions clear.

'Both Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and the Leader of the Opposition Alfred Sant should declare now that they will not open a spring hunting season again. The overwhelming majority of the Maltese people believe that spring hunting should end, and that the government needs to stop this European-wide embarrassment for our country'".