AD’s spokesperson on EU and international affairs, Arnold Cassola, in a statement to this paper said: “MPs should be held responsible for lulling Maltese hunters into thinking that spring hunting is compatible with EU directives and for eventual EU fines” (TMID, 5 March 2010).

I would like to remind Prof. Cassola about The Malta Independent on Sunday’s warning of 10 February 2008: “Dr Cassola made the strong statement that ‘Malta cannot get away without paying a hefty fine for the period May 2004-2008’, and also accused the government and its spokesperson of being ‘cheeky’ and ‘arrogant’.”

… “There is absolutely no legal provision for imposing fines for what has happened to date. Since the Maltese government seems to have already declared that it will abide by ECJ rulings, there does not seem to be a case for even referring to fines, let alone categorical statements of the type made by AD and Dr Cassola…

… “It seems that in this particular issue, Dr Cassola should not shoot his mouth off before making sure he’s correct, as otherwise, his accusation of arrogance and cheek against the government might very well end up being bounced right back at him” … “…AD has repeatedly misinformed.”

Then on 10 September 2009, the day of the European Court of Justice verdict in the case of the Commission against Malta regarding spring hunting, again on The Malta Independent, one could read: “Malta also faces the prospect of punitive fines should it be found guilty of having infringed the Wild Birds Directive for the four years running, and many have speculated such fines could be high enough to be in the seven-figure region” and “…calls for boycotting the Maltese tourism industry have also been persistent.”

Scaremongering tactics and tourism boycotts make it very easy to understand why Prof. Cassola and his Green Party never made it to parliament.

Carmel Farrugia

Birkirkara