Opinion: Clint’s cover is blown

The EU Court of Justice has delivered its judgement, ruling that Malta’s government was simply duping the EU Commission when it claimed that finch trapping was being allowed only for “research” purposes.

The EU’s highest court ruled there was no real research going on. Labour exploited a loophole in the Birds EU directive that allows the trapping of small numbers of birds for research purposes to turn Malta into what the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) called “one giant bird trap.”

Well, the game is over. Clint Camilleri’s cover is blown.

After years of taking the EU Commission for a ride, Labour’s government has been condemned by the EU’s highest court for failing to fulfil its obligations.

The finch trapping that’s been going on in Malta under the pretext of research is illegal, and it must stop. The court’s decision is final.

Labour thought it could keep fooling the EU Commission forever with its pathetic “research” excuse. Trappers were allowed to keep practising their hobby under the guise of scientific research.  They were meant to trap seven species of finches, check whether those birds were ringed, and release them.

But in 2023 alone, Birdlife estimated that 51,400 finches were taken from the wild.  It was a free-for-all for trappers.

In three weeks, 51 cases of illegal trapping were identified.  Police, with the very limited resources available, confiscated 238 finches in just a few days.

One man was caught trapping illegally just 24 hours after he’d been convicted of the same offence.  CABS identified a massive trapping complex in Mizieb, an area managed by the trappers’ and hunters’ association FKNK.  It was surrounded by razor wire and protected by guard dogs.

Yet FKNK didn’t notice it – and certainly didn’t report it.

After years of foot-dragging, the EU Commission started infringement procedures against Malta over finch trapping.  Now, the Court has ruled that the EU Commission was right all along.  Malta’s Labour government had been conning the Commission.  No research had been done.

There are no publications in any peer-reviewed journals about migratory finches in Malta.  A literature search did not find a single scientific publication about the subject when the keywords ‘Malta’ and ‘finches’ were searched.

The only two hits were one publication of a €740,000 contract for scientific studies to be carried out on migratory finches in autumn/winter 2023-2025 and another documenting the award of the contract to Ecoserv Ltd.

Not only were there no publications from Labour’s so-called “research”, but the court commented that no reference was made to any recognised ornithological research methods. The Court ruled that Labour’s “research” project had “no genuine research purpose”.

Even the most inexperienced researcher knows that research involves confirming or refuting a hypothesis – but the “research” didn’t even have a genuine hyothesis. It was all a front.

Labour was hoodwinking the EU Commission to secure the votes of the sizeable and influential hunters’ and trappers’ lobby.

That Court decision is final.  Finch trapping must stop. Malta is expected to carry the burden of its own costs as well as the costs of the EU commission.

In addition, Malta has been paying a top Spanish lawyer who’d previously worked at the European Court of Justice hundreds of thousands of euros to fight the case.

Professor Daniel Sarmiento received at least €110,000 in direct orders to be part of the legal team fighting the lost battle.  Permanent Secretary John Borg refused to divulge the total sum paid to Sarmiento out of taxpayers’ money.

But if you thought that was the end of the story, you would be seriously mistaken. Present at that judgement was our very own hunter and trapper, Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri, who was given the hunting and trapping portfolio.

Camilleri insisted we did not understand the ruling.  He argued that there was nothing wrong with Malta’s case.  Malta was right all along.  There were only just “minor breaches”, he told the Times of Malta.

Malta just needed to put in a few “more details”, and everything would be sorted. Trapping will go on to the trappers’ delight, Labour will remain in power and he’ll win thousands more votes.

Minister Camilleri wants us to believe that after paying Daniel Sarmiento hundreds of thousands of euro, Malta will have to pay hundreds of thousands more in penalties, because Sarmiento forgot to includethose few “more details”.  He simply overlooked correcting those “minor breaches”.

Camilleri is trying to pull the wool over the trappers’ eyes.  Everything will be sorted, he’s telling them.  It’s just those “minor breaches”, those “fine details” that need to be sorted.

He came up with ridiculous excuses for why Malta lost.  He argued that the court, in its judgement,  hadn’t even brought up the issues raised by the Commission – the use of clap nets to trap birds, the use of the term “citizen science”, the use of electronic and live decoys and the lack of enforcement.

The Court didn’t have to because it saw right through Labour’s ruse – there was no research.  “Research” was just a smokescreen to unleash trappers all over the islands. And without “research”, Labour’s justification for permitting trapping is gone.

The Minister came up with even more nonsense. He claimed the court ruled against Malta because the judges were not familiar with Malta’s legal notices, based on the British system not the European one.

Those stupid judges just don’t understand our systems – that’s the problem – not that Labour has been conning the Commission for years.

Ominously, Camilleri warned: “In the coming days, we will study the judgement in detail and decide the way forward in Cabinet”. That means they’ll find another loophole allowing trappers to catch finches.  And if Malta has to pay millions in EU fines for non-compliance, so be it.

It will just be another buy-more-votes scheme funded by that perennial sucker – the taxpayer.