Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/856150
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 2 AUGUST 2017 8 News FKNK says EU allowed trapping in other countries using same methods as those used in Malta CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Cor- dina insisted that trapping using the same "traditional" methods used in Malta was legal in other European coun- tries. He said that in Austria, the government "cherished" and wanted to preserve tradi- tional trapping for its citizens to the extent that it had ob- tained recognition of the prac- tice as an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. "Even before the recognition by UNESCO, Austria had nev- er been stopped by the Com- mission from applying dero- gations to allow the trapping of song birds, on the basis of tradition," said Cordina. Moreover, he said there were a number of errors in the opinion given last week, add- ing that the opinion had also ignored the government's de- fence of trapping in Malta. The opinion which was de- livered last week in Luxem- bourg by Eleanor Sharpston, Advocate General at the Eu- ropean Court of Justice (ECJ), stated that the Court should rule that by opening a trapping season for finches, the Maltese government had clearly failed to fulfil its obligations to abide by the Wild Birds Directive. Finch trapping is illegal un- der EU law, and only allowable under strict conditions. Malta re-opened its closed trap- ping season after Labour was elected to power, but the Eu- ropean Commission took the government to court in Octo- ber 2015. Among the "factual errors" in the opinion, said Cordina, was the fact that Sharpston stated that with a limit of 10 birds per trapper, 4,000 trap- pers could potentially catch 40,000 birds. "The advocate general is to- tally ignoring the fact that there is a bag limit of 27,000 birds for the whole country and that once this limit is reached, the season is sus- pended," said Cordina. He said that the opinion contained prejudiced views of trappers and trapping in gen- eral. "A section in the opinion is actually insulting," said Cor- dina, referring to a hypotheti- cal case of a country using bird feathers to make necklac- es, which was described in the opinion. He insisted that this made Malta seem like a "third- world country" and one which had no place in the EU. Finally, Cordina questioned whether BirdLife knew about the opinion before it was actu- ally published since the eNGO had "declared victory and had hurled abuse at the govern- ment and the FKNK" imme- diately after the opinion was published. MaltaToday pointed out that in Malta's EU accession treaty it had been agreed that trapping would be phased out by 2009, and that the prac- tice was illegal according to EU law, before questioning whether the FKNK was simply trying to delay the inevitable. "You are making an assump- tion that many people make by saying that trapping of song birds is illegal and you have no right to make that assump- tion," said Cordina. "We are in court precisely to determine whether the trapping of song birds is within the Birds Di- rective. We are saying it is not, and BirdLife and their merry band of friends are saying it is. Something which is still sub judice is still undecided." "Secondly, the transition process and pre-accession agreement covered a particu- lar period which is now over, so after this period ends we are still EU citizens and we have every right to use the Bird Directive and the rights it gives to derogate for prac- tices," continued Cordina. Asked whether there was any case-law on the matter, Cor- dina said that there was "a lot of case-law that was in favour and some which was against", insisting that each country had its own unique position, adding however that Austria's derogation represented a fla- grant precedent since it had not been taken to court. Finch trapping in the north of Malta Photo by BirdLife Malta Drunk-driver stopped by cement pots from hitting pedestrians by Swieqi cafe Mosta man driving under the influence hit two cars and cement pots outside a Swieqi cafeteria late Monday evening MIRIAM DALLI A 58-year-old man from Mosta crashed his Toyota Vitz into two other cars and two cement pots on the pavement outside a Swieqi cafeteria, in an inci- dent that took place on Triq tal-Ibrag on Monday night at around 9:45. Luckily, no one was injured in the incident: Vago Cafete- ria supervisor Keith Vella told MaltaToday that he was inside the cafeteria when he heard noises outside. The driver had reportedly crashed into two other cars, when he reversed and hit the cement pots. "The cement pots were heavy enough to stop the car and none of the patrons was in- jured," Vella said, adding that the table closest to the pots had not been occupied at the time of the incident. Photos uploaded on Face- book showed the broken pots that acted as a barrier for the persons outside the cafeteria. The man was allegedly driv- ing under the influence. Vella said that the man ap- peared to be in shock when he emerged from the car. "He definitely didn't look like he crashed on purpose," Vella said, dismissing reports that the driver had "gone on a crashing rampage". Adding that the incident had been "blown out of propor- tion", Vella said that the police had arrived on site immedi- ately. "We thought that something might have happened to [the driver] and he appeared to be in shock," he added. A spokesperson for the police said that the driver had been questioned by the police. The driver hit two other cars and a cement pot (Photo: Facebook) Busuttil's negative style has already been rejected by the nation – Labour YANNICK PACE THE Labour Party has insist- ed that if outgoing PN leader Simon Busuttil were to con- tinue influencing the Na- tionalist Party, the country and its politics would suffer. Speaking at a press confer- ence together with deputy prime minister Chris Fearne (pictured), Labour Party dep- uty leader for party affairs Chris Cardona said it was clear that Busuttil was still trying to dictate proceedings, and would continue to do so after a new leader was elected. "He wants whoever replac- es him to stick to the same negative approach," Cardona said. Cardona accused Busuttil of persisting with his attacks, adding that the recent "at- tack" on Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi was so "shocking" that the Chamber of Advocates felt the need to issue a state- ment. "Simon Busuttil made it clear that the leadership pro- cess should attract people that will keep fighting and that he would keep fighting himself, even as a normal citizen," he continued, in- sisting that Busuttil had "still not understood that politics was not about fighting". According to Cardona, Busuttil's negative style had already been rejected by the nation. Fearne said that the elec- toral result shows the PN had made a mistake in electing Busuttil leader, adding that it seemed likely that the PN intended to continue down the same path and would continue to ignore the mes- sage given to it by the nation. He added it was clear from the candidates who had opt- ed to contest the leadership race that those who had pre- viously been expected to run had not and that this was due to the fact that they could see the PN was not going to change. This was evident from the fact that a number of the candidates had already been rejected by the nation in the past, Fearne said.