Last Monday, NGO BirdLife Malta accused the Prime Minister of defending trappers (and hunters) in defiance of a ruling by the European Court of Justice.

A press conference was organised on the footsteps of the PM's office in Valletta, during which it was explained that the decision taken by the government to open the trapping season for seven species of finches "under the guise of research" goes against what the European court decided just last month.

In its judgment, the European Court of Justice said that Malta's decision to allow trapping of protected finches for "research purposes" is illegal. It is a final verdict on the matter and Malta risks paying penalties if it does not comply with the decision.

And yet, here we are, just a month later, with the government deciding to re-open the trapping season for the same species. The government simply ignored what the European Court of Justice ruled, so much so that the order to open the season was a "cut-and-paste" exercise of previous years.

In other words, the government did not give two hoots for the ECJ ruling, and has gone on with its business irrespective of the decision taken.

BirdLife did not mince its words last Monday. It accused the PM of abdicating his constitutional role, and said he was acting as a defence lawyer for trappers rather than seeing the country's overall needs. In so doing, he is dragging the Cabinet down with him and the country's reputation, whatever's left of it, is going down the drain too.

It's clear, BirdLife suggested, that the interests of the party once again have come before those of the country for the Prime Minister. Abela does not want to lose the votes of the hunters and trappers (and their families) - more so now that the Labour Party has seen its massive advantage drop substantially in the last European Parliament and local council elections held last June.

Let us remember that finch trapping was made illegal by a PN government in 2009, with little enforcement, once must say, before it was made legal again soon after the Labour Party came into power, in 2014.

But BirdLife is also correct to also seek the Nationalist Party's views on the matter. The PN has increased its media presence in the past weeks, regularly issuing statements on subjects of national importance. But it has been conspicuously silent on this particular situation. Is it keeping back because it is of the same thoughts as the government? Is it, like Labour, afraid of losing votes?

The massive number of hunters and trappers, with their respective families, hold both major political parties at ransom. In this respect, only the smaller parties, in particular ADPD, have been clear in the way they oppose the practice.

In the last years, PM Abela has gone as far as taking bizarre decisions to protect hunters and trappers, giving the portfolio to the Minister for Gozo, knowing his passion for hunting and trapping. Through the move, Abela showed that his intention was to protect hunters, giving them preference over the rest of the population.

We now await Europe's reaction to the government's defiance.