Malta hauled to EU Court for illegal trapping season

The European Commission referred Malta to the European Union Court of Justice for authorising the trapping of finches for research purposes.

It said that Malta failed to apply the Birds Directive, a general system of protection for wild birds that allows derogations on hunting and trapping, subject to strict conditions.

“The Commission considers that, even though the declared objective is ‘research', several elements indicate that the scheme - in practice - allows for a large number of birds to be captured without being reported, contrary to the strict conditions for derogations set by the Birds Directive,” the EC stated.

Last month despite repealing the law which permitted finch trapping, the government allowed this year's autumn trapping season for “research” purposes, to open. MaltaToday had reported how the EC was irked by this move, and was considering it a pre-electoral ploy.

A 2018 ECJ verdict had stopped finch trapping in Malta, but government had tried to skirt the judgment by applying a research derogation last year. The EC remarked how it had sent a letter of formal notice to Malta in December 2020 and a reasoned opinion in June 2021.

“Although Malta repealed the incriminated legislation in early October, it did not allay the Commission's concerns: the trapping licences for the 2021 season had already been issued on the basis of the repealed 2020 framework, and new rules have been swiftly adopted with only minor changes compared to the previous legal regime."

“The Commission therefore considers the reply by the Maltese authorities to both the letter of formal notice and the reasoned opinion as unsatisfactory, and is therefore referring Malta to the Court of Justice of the European Union,” EC concluded.

BirdLife Malta says EC was not ‘fooled’ by Government’s ploy

BirdLife Malta said that the EC has seen through the ploy by the Government and that it was not “fooled” by the attempt to buy time.

“In view of today’s legal action announced by the EC, BirdLife Malta is calling on the Government to immediately close the ongoing finch trapping season,” BirdLife stated.

It said that the legal action as inevitable and that the Government will now have to try and defend the indifensible.