The European Commission yesterday decided to send a supplementary letter of formal notice that is the beginning of legal proceedings against Malta, to extend the bird hunting prohibition not only to 2005-6-7 but for any other subsequent year, PBS reported yesterday.

The report quoted Ms Barbara Hellferich, spokesperson of Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas as saying that the EC decided to issue a formal letter which remains valid until Malta decides to eliminate spring hunting. This means that the Commission will not have to start separate legal proceedings on spring hunting every year. The EC is giving Malta one month to reply to the formal letter which will be sent to the government in the coming days.

The Malta Independent yesterday reported that as far as the Commission is concerned, the go-ahead for spring hunting to begin next month constitutes a breach of the EU’s Birds Directive for the third year running – since Malta joined the EU.