Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/385963
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER 2014 News 6 SUSPENDING the autumn season amid widespread illegalities cannot have been an easy choice for Prime Minister Muscat, who partly owes his superlative electoral majorities to his pact with the hunting lobby. Weighing on his decision was the spotlight thrown on Malta after Commission President Jean Claude Juncker nominated Karmenu Vella as his commissioner for the envi- ronment. Also weighing on Muscat is the public outrage generated by epi- sodes of illegal poaching which is turning an electoral asset into a toxic liability for Labour in govern- ment. Moreover, the spate of hunting il- legalities coupled with last Sunday's violent episodes offers Muscat a unique opportunity to break free of obligations to the hunting lobby. Clearly in Muscat's mind the risk of seeing Vella's candidature jetti- soned because of his government's track record on hunting clearly outweighed the inevitable disap- pointment the season's curtailment would cause among hunters. Muscat still faces the problem of what to do after October 10, when hunting can resume again, and what stance he is to take with re- gard to the anti-Spring hunting ref- erendum. But the dynamics unleashed by Muscat's bold and unexpected de- cision to curtail the autumn season, may well have sealed the fate of the hunting lobby in the spring hunt- ing referendum due next year. For the revulsion caused by the illegal hunting of protected birds and the hunters' offensive and violent reac- tion to the suspension may give the yes movement the necessary mo- mentum to ensure a big turnout in the referendum. The chickens coming home to roost Surely for Labour Muscat's deci- sion comes at a cost for the simple reason that the hunting lobby has provided key support in two con- secutive elections. Labour would probably have still won the last general election com- fortably even without the support of the hunters' federation, the FKNK, but it would certainly not have been with the wide margin he got. Hunters probably had an even more pivotal role in Labour's suc- cess in last June's MEP election. Candidates like the Gozitan Clint Camilleri, who was 200 votes short of being elected, openly campaigned on a pro-hunting platform. Moreover just days after these elections parliamentary secre- tary Michael Falzon presented a 100,000-signature strong hunters' petition asking for parliament to change the law to avoid any refer- endum affecting "minority rights", aimed to short circuit the referen- dum result if it went against the hunters. Subsequently Muscat's govern- ment embarked on a public con- sultation aimed at postponing local elections to 2019, following decla- rations by FKNK officials in favour of a stand-alone referendum. Moreover during the past months not only were laws changed to re- move the 3pm hunting curfew but the government has also announced plans to apply derogation to allow finch trapping despite previous in- dications by the EC that this is in breach of EU law. Muscat's quandary Numerous incidents involving poachers killing protected birds like the graceful stork, the pretend- ed bringer of babies, were becoming a continuous embarrassment for a media-savvy government. Moreover on this issue there is a clear divide between two categories of voters courted by Muscat; hunt- ers and liberal younger voters. Hunting may be one of a few is- sues where Muscat's Labour is in a minority. So far Labour's logic has been dictated by a plausible calculation. While the anti hunting majority is passive, hunters are one of the most volatile and boisterous electoral groups who tend to shift allegiances in elections. This is because hunt- ing is a 'do or die' issue for them, though not for society at large. Simply put those who are against hunting do not consider the issue so important to affect their choice of government. But the cases of illegal poaching over the past weeks coupled by the hunters' violent reaction to Mus- cat's bold decision to suspend the season may well have made main- stream voters less willing to toler- ate the political blackmail of the hunting lobby. History repeats itself While it was Dom Mintoff who was the first politician to be vilified by hunters for introducing a closed season, under Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, Alfred Sant and Joseph Hunters: From kingmakers to toxic liability? After being vilified by hunters for temporarily suspending the autumn season, the question for Muscat is whether to dump the hunters or patch up with them after Karmenu Vella's grilling next week. By JAMES DEBONO 2007: At a protest organised by the FKNK, members of the press were attacked by members of the hunting fraternity LEFT: Karmenu Vella will face MEPs' grilling on his suitability for the post of EU environment commissioner. Background photos: A neverending saga of protests led by Lino Farrugia (second photo, with cigar) today styled as the 'CEO' of the FKNK