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maltatoday SUNDAY 21 JANUARY 2018 26 Environment Minister George Pullicino has said he is waiting for the Ornis Com- mittee's recommendations before taking the uncomfortable decision on whether to open the spring hunting season for 2008 – despite the fact that infringement proceed- ings against Malta in the European Court of Justice will be the subject of an Environ- ment Commission meeting to be held on January 30. "The law establishes that the Ornis Committee makes its recommendations to government, and government decides after due consideration," the minister said yesterday. "Before the government takes any posi- tion on the issue, the recommendations by Ornis still have to be made." The committee comprises representa- tives of both the hunters' lobby FKNK and conservationists BirdLife. Having already violated EU law for a fourth consecutive year by allowing hunt- ing in spring in 2007, the government was last year accused of using the Ornis com- mittee as a smokescreen. Pullicino is not the only one to play a waiting game on this contentious issue, which in March 2007 resulted in an unruly and occasionally violent protest by hunters in Valletta. Ornis Committee chairman Louis Cilia yesterday said he, too, is waiting for mem- bers to finally agree on a date for their next meeting. "So far our members haven't agreed on a date, but I expect the meeting will take place by the end of the month or the begin- ning of the next. No agenda has been set. So I can't tell you if we will be discussing the opening of this year's spring hunting season or not." BirdLife said it's waiting for government to publish the text of its response to the European Commission's reasoned opinion. Tolga Temuge, Birdlife's executive director, said he believes the government has every intention of opening the spring hunting season again this year. "This much was evident in the Com- mission's reaction to the government's response to its reasoned opinion last week," Temuge said. "Had government informed the Commission it intended not to open the spring hunting season this year, the EC's response would surely have been differ- ent. Judging by the fact that the EC has not lifted its infringement procedures, it is clear they did not receive the response they were hoping for." BirdLife is expected to warn Ornis it cannot recommend the opening of a new spring hunting season in the absence of scientific data showing that there is no alternative to hunting in spring. Spring hunting is banned by European law, but Malta argues that government had secured a special derogation on the hunting of turtle dove and quail in spring during negotiations. However, the EU claims that all it conceded at negotiation stage was an observation that Malta, like every other member state, is free to apply for a deroga- tion under article 9. However, government has never formally applied for any deroga- tion on spring hunting since 2003. Commission sources yesterday confirmed a meeting has now been scheduled for 30 January, to discuss forthcoming infringe- ment procedures against individual mem- ber states on a wide variety of environmen- tal issues. The same sources claimed that, unless the government reneges on its apparent deci- sion to open the spring hunting season for 2008 before that date, the agenda is certain to include Malta and its continued insist- ence on breaching the Birds Directive. George Pullicino has already hinted that his government may play for time, banking on the fact that ECJ cases often take years to reach a decision. But BirdLife Malta cites a precedent in Poland last year, whereby fines for an environmental infringement were imposed before any verdict was reached. "If the government thinks the case will drag on for years, it is very much mistaken," Temuge warned yesterday. "As we saw in Poland last year, the European Court can also take interim measures if it deems the breach of law to be serious enough. These measures can come into force immedi- ately." Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. News – 23 January, 2008 Pullicino plays for time on spring hunting Opinion Interview in MaltaToday I refer to my interview that ap- peared in your newspaper on Sunday 14 instant and note that a couple of important points I mentioned were, unfortunately, omitted therein. These omissions refer to my replies and comments in con- nection with the live-capture of finches (trapping) questions. Whilst what I stated was, in the most, correctly reported, I also made reference to a press confer- ence given by Birdlife Malta (BLM) on the previous Wednes- day and to subsequent interviews to BLM CEO Mr Mark Sultana. Whilst I normally do not revisit these issues, certain statements that are made to inf luence the general public, need to be correct in their content, as otherwise, this is tantamount to misrepre- sentation. Mr Sultana mentioned, during his interview as aired on the me- dia, that the finches that are cap- tured alive are killed. I am sure that he is perfectly aware that nothing could be further from the truth. The finches are meticu- lously taken care of to the extent that, in their vast majority, they live more than double the lifespan that they enjoy in the wild. They are kept in large aviaries and are given scrupulous attention and care. Why Mr Sultana went as far as this to try to picture this socio- cultural matter in a bad light is anyone's guess. Another misleading statement concerned the comparison that was made with the same practice in Austria. Yes, Mr Sultana, the practice in Austria is indeed identical in principle to our local traditional practice. Variances such as the fact that in Austria smaller-sized nets are used is compensated by the immensely larger number of finches present during the season. Plus, in terms of bag limits, the Austrians are allowed to bag 11 finches, that is one more than our members. One should also be aware that this practice of capturing finches alive has been granted the status of World Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. The fact that one does not agree with a legal practice does not give one the right to make mis- leading statements to the public on an 'end justifies the means' platform. Joseph Perici Calascione President - FKNK Identity Malta application for non-EU workers With reference to a report pub- lished in MaltaToday Midweek (17 January, 2018), Identity Malta would like to clarify that the application process for residence permits is a rigorous one which has various stages, including a de- tailed analysis of all applications by the Police. It is for this reason that the process take a number of weeks. One must take note of the fact that in February 2015, an office in Hal Far was purposely set up for applications for residence permits from beneficiaries of international protection. Before this office was set up, hundreds of such immigrants would even sleep rough outside the offices in Valletta so as to receive the limited service avail- able on juts one day in the week. The situation that existed before would often escalate in fighting between the applicants them- selves, as had been reported by this same newspaper. It behoves one to remind one and all that beneficiaries of interna- tional protection have access to the Maltese labour market, which right does not depend on residence permit. The person identified in the above-mentioned report is not authorised to work legally in Germany. In fact, beneficiaries of international protection can travel abroad through the Schengen zone but cannot work in other member states except in that which has granted them protection. Indeed, German authorities send back dozens of beneficiaries of interna- tional protection to Malta because they are found in a state of irregu- larity inside Germany. Charles Mizzi Identity Malta Parade of statistics It is certainly painful to note that the European parliament adopted a strongly-worded resolution with regard to the rule of law in our country by a convincing vote with 466 in favour, 49 against and 167 abstentions. But this is a ques- tion of politics, which is about governance and the art of the possible. A much more serious issue, being a moral one, strik- ing and shameful, was the ballot of 12 July 2017, when Malta became the fourteenth country in Europe to legalise same-sex marriage. I reckon this vote is a good candidate for the Guinness Book of Records. When the same Bill was being debated in Germany, voting was 393 in favour, 226 against and four abstentions; France, 329 in favour, 229 against – in the senate, 331 in favour, 225 against; England, 400 in favour, 175 against; and in Italy, 372 in favour, 51 against and 99 abstentions. In Malta, the Marriage Equality Act passed with 66 votes in favour and one against. The above shows that there was considerable op- position from MPs abroad, but here it was the government's proudest moment with cel- ebrations that included a light show projected onto Castille declaring 'We Made History'. In reality, the enactment of the Bill was an exaggerated exultation of a law that goes against God's command- ments, surely an achievement not to be proud of. The col- lective rejection of our MPs of their beliefs has struck a deep fear in us with regard to the country's religious heritage and Christian future. John Azzopardi Zabbar