Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/326223
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 JUNE 2014 8 News JURGEN BALZAN THE thousands of hunters who are pinning their hopes on government blocking the abrogative referendum calling for an end to spring hunting "are being taken for a ride", PN deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami said. Yesterday, the hunters' federation (FKNK) claimed that the PN and its deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami do not agree with the hunters' petition be- cause they back the proposed abroga- tive referendum, which could put an end to spring hunting. The hunters' petition, which they claim was signed by 104,000 persons, calls on Parliament to amend the Ref- erenda Act after the Coalition Against Spring Hunting presented a petition to hold a referendum to abolish spring hunting. Insisting that this would deny the hunting "minority" its traditional and socio-cultural practice, Farrugia said the PN "is not prepared to safeguard the rights and legal privileges of mi- norities, including hunters". Yet, Fenech Adami said he was being misquoted, in an attempt to turn the guns on the Opposition. "The PN is in favour of limited and regulated spring hunting. However, we are against any attempt to deny the people the right to hold and participate in a referendum," he said. Speaking to MaltaToday, the PN deputy leader added that the abroga- tive referendum was the "ultimate civil right and the gives citizens the only op- portunity to tell politicians what they can or cannot do, and the PN will cer- tainly not deny the people this right". In its statement, the hunters' federa- tion pointed out that the petition was signed by almost one in every three voters and a fourth of the whole popu- lation and FKNK chief Lino Farrugia said, "it should be given its due impor- tance, and parliament should hold a serious debate". He also expressed his regret that despite its appeals, the Opposition refused to receive and present the petition in Parliament together with government junior minister Michael Falzon. However, Fenech Adami retorted that it was government the hunters should be wary of, because while reas- suring environmentalists that it would not impede the referendum, it was giv- ing hunters "a false impression" that the referendum could be blocked. Hunting is not a human right In their attempts to rally support for their cause, the hunters' federation has camouflaged its petition as a call for MPs to safeguard minorities' rights, including the gay community, horse- racing and bowls (bocci) enthusiasts and a myriad of unrelated issues. Addressing the press outside Par- liament, FKNK president Joe Perici Calascione said "Parliament cannot ignore these signatures, and ignore debating this petition to allow the Ref- erendum Act to be used vindictively to attack the right of a minority." The hunters have for long argued that if spring hunting is abolished, the rights of other minorities would be at risk. However, contacted by MaltaToday, the Malta Gay Rights Movement co- ordinator Gabi Calleja said: "Human rights issues should not be decided through referendums, however hunt- ing is not a human right." Signatures Unlike the 44,000 signatures col- lected by the Coalition Against Spring Hunting, the signatures collected by the hunters' federation will not be verified. Since presenting the petition to par- liament, doubts have been raised on whether FKNK's claims are correct and whether parliament would be scrutinising the signatures submitted. FKNK have said that the petition sig- natures include minors who amount to 0.78% of the total collected, how- ever unless parliament or the electoral commission verify the signatures, this will never be ascertained. Replying to our questions, the Clerk to the House Ray Scicluna explained that the presentation of the petition was made according to Standing Or- der 8, immediately following the ap- proval of the minutes. Asked whether parliament would be carrying out a verification process, Scicluna said "according to Standing Order 146 verification of the number of signatures is not performed by the Office of the Speaker but is the re- sponsibility of the Member presenting the petition who 'shall ascertain the number of signatures to the petition, and shall write the same number at the head of the petition'." This puts the onus on parliamentary secretary for planning Michael Falzon, to ascertain that the hunters' federa- tion's claims are correct and ensure that parliament and the public are not misled. Attempts to contact Falzon proved futile, however after receiving the sig- natures on Tuesday, the junior minis- ter who brokered a pre-electoral deal with hunters for Labour, said it would be "arrogant of him" not to present the petition. Falzon, himself a hunter, added that although he had not touched a hunt- ing rifle for 20 years he always had the courage to speak about what he be- lieved in. Despite his claim of abstinence, Fal- zon has admitted to enjoying the odd hunting trip abroad. In 2009, he had joined a hunting party in Argentina where the MP featured in a YouTube video dressed in hunting fatigues with fellow hunters, admiring a catch of over 200 ducks and other birds. Ministry of Sustainable Development, the Environment & Climate Change Expression of Interest Environment and!Climate Change Specialists ! 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G$-$'0!:GF!HKIH+!*-!0-8!5*'P&-4!108!<$)5$$-!QAKI!0A/A!0-1!NAII!=A/A!*'! 1*5-3*01$1!9'*/!)#$!6&-&7)'8R7!5$<7&)$+!#))=STT555A/71$(A4*.A/) Muscat asked Galdes to pave the way for autumn trapping Ornis committee simply rubber stamped a cabinet decision JUST hours before an Ornis com- mittee meeting was expected to vote and decide on the re-legalisation of an autumn finch trapping season, a representative from the Wild Bird Regulations Unit, the government body advising the animal rights ministry on hunting, was busy be- hind closed doors making a presen- tation to Joseph Muscat's Cabinet on the application of a derogation from the EU law banning finch- trapping. To Prime Minister Joseph Mus- cat, trapping in autumn has been a foregone conclusion: he had already made it clear to his closest aides that he would introduce trapping for finches in autumn, even though it was not included in his electoral programme. But before last year's election Muscat had entered into a secret pact and promised hunters that he would introduce trapping, even though he knew that this was tech- nically impossible. Under the EU's Birds Directive, derogating from the ban on finch trapping must fulfil several condi- tions, and Malta had already not fulfilled transitional agreements laid out in its EU accession treaty, to set up a captive breeding programme before 2009. The WBRU, under parliamentary secretary Roderick Galdes, has been accused of taking a pro-hunting and trapping stance since Labour was returned to power. A presentation it made to the Ornis Committee, which groups hunters and conser- vationists in making recommenda- tions to the government, turned out to be a purely scholarly exer- cise, without any reference to the fact that trapping had been phased out for good in 2008 according to the EU accession treaty, and that two Commission infringements on trapping were still standing. After the WBRU's presentation, the Prime Minister said he was fully aware that finch trapping would be met with strong opposition from the European Commission and that yet another infringement would be more than possible, effectively spelling the end of any trapping in future. But he also told the Cabinet that he did not want to be the one to stop trapping. The downsizing of finch-trapping had been clearly enshrined in the transitional section of Malta's EU accession treaty, with four years granted starting from 2004 to car- ry out the captive breeding pro- gramme. Trappers in Malta were known for their wanton destruction of natural habitats and of taking over private and public land. But in the mad rush before accession in 2003, the Fenech Adami administration had added 400 trappers from Gozo – trappers who had never paid a licence and who had trapping sites on public land or land they had no title over – to the population of reg- istered trappers. The WBRU also presented a false picture to the Cabinet on Malta's right to derogate from the ban on trapping, by claiming that other countries in the EU trap finches. The WRBU representative told the Cabinet that Spain, France and Aus- tria allow finch trapping, but no one from the Cabinet asked any specific questions about the practice. But the finch trapping the WBRU representative referred to was the limited capture of canary finches on the Canary Islands, and the cap- ture and release of 500 bullfinches in Austria. On the other hand, the same rep- resentative even failed to inform the Cabinet that the accession treaty had a strict transitional period that 'Government is taking you for a ride', Fenech Adami warns hunters FKNK say hunters 'abandoned' by Opposition, Beppe Fenech Adami retorts 'you're being taken for a ride by government' Prime Minister Joseph Muscat (right) with President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso