It’s 2pm now and, of course, there is no press conference by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil to announce a change of heart on the spring hunting referendum.

Both have said they will vote yes.

 

It was an April Fool’s joke, but it was also a kind of wishful thinking on our part, since we at The Malta Independent, together with the other English-speaking independent media, have taken a stand against spring hunting.

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Earlier

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil have changed their mind and will be voting no in the referendum on spring hunting on 11 April.

The announcement is expected to be made later on today in a joint press conference to be held at Castille.

Both Dr Muscat and Dr Busuttil had stated that they would have voted ‘yes’ to retain the spring hunting derogation negotiated by Malta in the run-up to become a European Union member.

Dr Muscat had immediately announced his intentions when giving the date of the referendum, with Dr Busuttil following suit. This has avoided political confrontation on the issue.

But pressure in the English-speaking independent media, who have taken a common position in favour of the ‘no’ campaign, has pushed the two leaders to have a change of heart and will be voting to stop hunting in spring.

The two leaders are known to have met over the past days to come together on their new position, and will be announcing their decision at 2pm.