Back when Malta had been negotiating its terms of accession with the EU, several key stakeholders had received letters appeasing their concerns about membership and the effects it would have on them. Amongst these, were hunters and trappers - who had then received letters from the likes of Eddie Fenech Adami and Simon Busuttil noting that they could continue to enjoy their practices after accession.

Years rolled by. Malta became part of the European Union and acceded to its Treaties. Whilst on the whole, as a nation, many of our successes can today be attributed to our membership in the EU, there were also those who had been hit hard. Of these, the hunters and trappers were those who felt that they had paid a high price. They felt betrayed and that politicians had taken them for a ride. The written promises, in black and white, were forgotten and the PN-led Governments agreed to legislative changes in the EU that significantly jeopardised these practices in Malta. Obviously, once these were agreed, it would be very hard, if not impossible, to not implement such legislation or to have it repealed.

This situation eventually led the Government not to open trapping seasons. By default - and rightly so, hunters and trappers took it out on the Government and the EU - a Union they now feel treats them unjustly and they cannot relate to. To be honest, one can hardly blame them. Their politicians were not honest and blamed it on the EU.

To cut to the chase, when Labour was elected in 2013, it had one of two choices vis-à-vis trappers. It could either blame the previous administration for its wrongdoing or it could act on the problem and try to resolve it. Obviously, the former would have definitely been the easier one. Labour would have nothing to do with the mess it inherited and trappers would never practice their past-time ever again. The latter, i.e. the opening of the trapping season, was most definitely the trickier option.

For the first time in years, the Government decided to apply a derogation in the Birds Directive and opened the trapping season. The European Commission came down on it like a hammer and the Government had to face proceedings before the European Courts over a breach of EU law in applying the derogation for finches. For years, it fought tooth and nail, arguing that the derogation was being applied correctly and invested a lot of time, money and effort for trappers to be able to continue to enjoy their practice. Eventually, a judgement was delivered where in a nutshell, the  Court of Justice said that the finch trapping derogation regime as applied in Malta was unlawful and in breach of EU Law and therefore effectively finch trapping had to stop.

Then, I had immediately said that I personally felt that the judgement was unfair on Malta. Maybe it was also unjust and treated trappers in Malta differently from those in other Member States.

While the judgement had to be respected, it didn't mean that there wasn't anything that could be done for trappers to continue practicing their hobby on other species - like the golden plover and the song thrush. In this regard, this week Parliamentary Secretary Clint Camilleri has effectively delivered, through an agreement with the European Commission, some good news to a group of people that had been taken for a ride for years.

Although this doesn't mean that all is forgotten and forgiven, trappers can now know who has their best interest at heart. More than ever, they now know who was always on their side, truthful and did their best.