Submitted by ANIMAL RIGHTS MALTA’S BLOG

The European Court of Justice has decided to uphold a request by the European Commission to ban spring hunting this year until a final decision is taken by the court on the future of spring hunting.

“The overwhelming majority of the Maltese are against spring hunting. It is now time for law enforcement against illegal bird shooting and trapping to be stepped up so that this ban will be effective”, BirdLife president Joseph Mangion said.

The court, headed by President of the Court, Vassilios Skouris, had been deliberating on the interim measure since April 2, when the last oral submissions by lawyers for the Maltese government and the Commission were made behind closed doors.

The Maltese government, against the will of the majority of the Maltese population, had argued that spring hunting should be allowed in terms of a derogation negotiated as part of the EU accession package. Of course, the Maltese government has never produced any official document stating in unequivocal terms that the EU would guarantee that spring hunting would be retained in Malta, and the EU had always insisted that no such agreement, that spring hunting was to be retained, has ever been made with the Maltese government.

Hearings before the court for a final decision on the future of spring hunting have not started yet, and so it remains to be seen whether the European Court of Justice will declare that spring hunting would be abolished indefinitely.