Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia has chastised his predecessor Simon Busuttil about a comment the latter made about trapping, saying that Busuttil should have consulted with the party before going public.
Maltatoday reports that when contacted, Delia said Busuttil “should have first understood what the party stand is before tweeting as he did” after the European Court of Justice judgment against trapping in Malta.
He insisted that the party stand was clear, irrespective of what position was tweeted or communicated by any PN MEP or MP.
In its official statement released on Thursday afternoon, the PN appealed for “serious dialogue” with the European Commission to be able to find a way of applying a derogation to EU rules that was sustainable.
In his first tweet, Busuttil expressed vindication, claiming the PN had lost votes for telling trappers the truth and accused the Prime Minister of buying their votes. The tweet was shared by Opposition Environment spokesperson Jason Azzopardi, who also repeated the same message on Facebook.
This happened, according to Maltatoday, when the PN was still formulating its stand on the ruling, which has left thousands of trappers reeling.
After the party statement, in a second tweet Busuttil mooted the possibility that a derogation for finch trapping was possible within the strict parameters laid out in the judgment.
Delia told MaltaToday it was not the PN’s job to issue “blanket statements against any part of the population”.
He said the court decision has had a negative impact on a section of the Maltese population and urged for a sustainable solution to be found.
“It is useless blaming trappers… this is a case against Malta and we should be discussing ways in which trapping can continue in a sustainable manner and within the parameters of the law,” Delia said.