The Labour Party believed that people had to have a full picture of the situation if they were to judge or draw conclusions about the hunting issue, MLP deputy leader Dr Charles Mangion told a meeting which an MLP delegation had with representatives of the hunters’ association FKNK.

And the issue should be treated rationally, not with emotion, he added.

Dr Mangion said the party’s position today on hunting and trapping was based on the agreement concluded by the Labour government in 1997. But today the MLP had to see which parts of that agreement were still valid because since then Malta had joined the European Union. Everyone’s interests had to be protected.

The Labour Party, the deputy leader added, wanted all the information about the issue to be made public, and that was why a series of questions had been made in parliament by Labour MP Roderick Galdes. There were today many doubts about what the government had achieved in its negotiations prior to accession.

FKNK secretary Lino Farrugia said he was informed the government had appointed an independent French expert to collect information from all sides in the issue. BirdLife, however, did not have faith in him. Mr Farrugia said he was sure that this was so because BirdLife knew that when the truth came out, it would prove that many figures quoted in the hunting debate were only exaggerations.