Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1315450
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 DECEMBER 2020 NEWS Cases 10423 Active 1985 Recoveries 8289 Deaths 149 Swabs 442,487 LATEST COVID-19 www.maltatoday.com.mt/covid19 MATTHEW AGIUS THE latest infringement pro- ceedings initiated by the Euro- pean Commission against the Maltese government on spring hunting and trapping are the result of Prime Minister Robert Abela being given bad advice from Minister Clint Camilleri, Birdlife said. "Malta in 2020 should be aligning itself to the Europe- an Green Deal and not taking measures to destroy more bi- odiversity. Malta should be aware that it cannot be a Euro- pean Union Member State à la carte and that the spirit of the EU Accession Treaty must be respected," CEO Mark Sultana said yesterday. BirdLife Malta also called on the government to live up to the European Green Deal. With the European Commission finally holding Malta's government accountable for the wrong de- cisions taken in opening hunt- ing and trapping derogations based on the wrong advice of Clint Camilleri, Malta's reputa- tion had been put in bad light "because of decisions that took us back in time," the NGO said. The NGO dismissed as "laughable and ludicrous" accu- sations that Birdlife was harm- ing Malta. "BirdLife Malta has over its 58 years of existence raised millions in cash into the Maltese economy in education, nature reserves and research. In the last 16 years of Europe- an Union membership, we have successfully won millions of eu- ro in funds for employing peo- ple in the environment sector and scientific research. "The hunting lobby, on the other hand, has worked hard to preserve outdated habits, blackmail politicians with their vote, kill protected species and block conservation measures that will serve future genera- tions." Sultana said hunting lobby FKNK should realise that it was high time they stop taking their privileges for granted and that their abusive actions – in par- ticular with illegal hunting and trapping – had harmed Malta for decades, "earning us the reputation as a country where 'what flies, dies'." BirdLife Malta called upon Prime Minister Robert Abela and Opposition Leader Ber- nard Grech to "realise that the vast majority of Maltese and Gozitans are not hunters or trappers and want to live in a modern country which em- braces the European Green Deal." FKNK: BirdLife is enriching it- self using EU funds The statement came shortly after hunters' federation FKNK held a press conference of its own, in which it made sever- al claims, amongst them that BirdLife Malta was enriching itself through EU funding. At the press conference, FKNK president Lino Farrugia said the European Commission was being intransigent and in- flexible in its interpretation of legal texts. "The principle of protection of diversity in cul- tures was set aside," he said. Farrugia claimed the language used by the Commission and BirdLife was the same and that this showed "the marriage be- tween the two." He accused BirdLife of making substantial financial gain from the land given to them. "Over 40 years Malta had lost a lot of practis- es to be in conformity with EU law," Farrugia said, "but this is not enough for BirdLife Malta and the European Commission, who want to abolish hunting." He urged government and MEPs to defend the interests of the hunting lobby. 'FKNK's bad advice to Abela led to EU action'