Engerer’s ‘manifesto’ – in favour of spring hunting, against Tobin tax

right in derogating from the EU’s ban on spring hunting, which he said were negotiated upon accession to the EU.

Yesterday, the government announced a 19-day spring hunting season that also allows hunting on Sunday.

“Malta has two derogations from the Birds Directive, while there are countries that have 1,800 derogations,” he said, without specifying which countries or which EU laws they were derogating from.

“Why are there people who want to pick on Malta’s derogations?”

Engerer said that Malta should be treated in the same way as other countries, and that it should not be “picked upon” just because it was the smallest EU nation.

Engerer also said that he was against a European proposal for a financial transaction tax (FTT) which is only being opposed by the UK and Malta.

“It will have a negative impact on Malta’s financial services sector and the jobs in this sector. I’m disappointed that there has not been any consensus on this tax.”

The tax on financial transactions would cover transactions in shares and derivatives on exchange markets – probably a low tax of just one tenth or one hundredth of a percent per transaction.

Its aim is to discourage transactions that are too speculative, which have the potential to destabilize markets.