(Reproduced here is an Alternattiva statement issued on 21 November 2005)

Belgian Green MEP, Bart Staes, in collaboration with Arnold Cassola, Alternattiva Demokratika spokesperson on EU Affairs, has asked the EU Commission to clarify the validity of the Malta government request for a derogation on hunting for turtle dove and quail in spring.

Arnold Cassola said: “In its report (presented on 17 November, with four months and 17 days delay) the Maltese government is quoting “speaking notes” as the basis for its request for a derogation. Now the cards are clearly on the table and Commissioner Stavros Dimas must be clear in his answer: Is it possible that the Commission considers “speaking notes” to have a higher legal value than the actual Accession Treaty signed by Malta in April 2003?”

“The Accession Treaty does not give Malta any derogation or opt out on spring hunting,” emphasised Arnold Cassola. Green MEP Bart Staes asked the Commission if it was aware that in Malta’s report on the application of the derogation for spring hunting the Maltese government states that agreement on the hunting of turtle dove and quail in spring has been reached between Malta and Commission officials during accession negotiations in 2002 and that the Commission officials have also accepted that the banning of such hunting in spring would mean the abolition of hunting in Malta (page 4).

Bart Staes continued: “Is the Commission aware that this contradicts what the Commission stated in its written reply of 31 of August 2005 on the questions E-2396/05 and E-2406/05 when it said that ‘the Commission has not agreed to any opt-out from this requirement by Malta or any other Member State’.”

Finally, Bart Staes asked if the Commission accepts that the “speaking notes” quoted by the Maltese government have a legal value that is superior to the Accession Treaty signed by the Maltese government in April 2003.