The Maltese Labour MEP John Attard Montalto clashed with the Polish chairman of the EU’s Petition Committee, Marcin Libicki, during the hearing of a pro-hunting petition presented by the Maltese hunters’ federation in Strasbourg.
The incident occurred in a full conference room of MEPs, assistants and other petitioners, when Dr Attard Montalto accused Mr Libicki of being prejudiced against Maltese hunters and insisted that the committee’s minutes record that he had no confidence in him as chairman.
As far as International Animal Rescue is aware Dr Attard Montalto is not a member of the Petitions Committee, and has never previously attended such meetings. It seems he is trying to win support for his election campaign. After the meeting he told the Maltese media that he is the only Maltese MEP to have assisted the hunting lobby during the past four years and he wanted to give them a helping hand when they presented their case in Brussels.
The incident occurred when the FKNK petition was being discussed and the chairman asked for comments. Dr Attard Montaldo, a legal advisor by profession intervened and said that he wanted to ask the Commission representative a question and would make further remarks following the answer.
Dr Attard Montaldo asked the Commission whether, as a result of the accession negotiations between Malta and the EU, there had been any informal agreement or letter specifying that hunters in Malta could continue with their practice in spring.
The Commission representative said no and confirmed that what Malta and the EU agreed was covered in the Treaty.
Mr Libicki the polish chairman, remarked that the Commission should pass move on to its official comments on the petition. Following this comment Dr Attard Montalto objected strongly and stated “Mr Chairman, this is not the way to conduct this committee. You were not even paying attention to what I was saying as you were speaking to your colleagues during my intervention. Now you want to stop me again! This is not a way how to conduct meetings in the EP and it’s clear that you are prejudiced against Maltese hunters and their case. I want to continue with my remarks and at the same time include in the minutes that I have no confidence in you as Chairman of this committee.”
Following these remarks from Dr Attard Montalto, Mr Libicki gave him the floor to continue. The committee was afterwards also addressed by FKNK representatives Lino Farrugia and Joe Perici Calascione.
At the end of the debate the Committee decided that it should await the judgement of the court case to outlaw spring hunting instituted by the Commission against Malta, as according to the Commission the practice breaches EU law.
The petition, signed by 31,000 individuals, protests against the Commission’s decision to initiate infringement proceedings against Malta for breaches of the Birds Directive and calls on the Commission to honour its pre-accession agreement with the island. It states that spring hunting is part of the Maltese tradition and that previous common positions agreed by the Commission and Malta during the accession negotiations have been ignored.
For its part, the Commission reiterated that, while the Maltese government succeeded in gaining a transition period to allow the trapping of certain birds (finches) until the end of 2008, spring hunting was never covered by an exemption and is, therefore, subject to common EU rules, as set out in the Birds Directive.
When asked by Maltese journalists whether he is supporting the hunters in their case, Dr Attard Montalto admitted that he is on the hunters’ side in this issue. However, he said that he still respected the concerns of those against hunting and wanted to help the two sides find a good compromise on this divisive issue.
This statement to the press by Dr Attard Montaldo is regarded in Malta as an election campaign exercise and nothing else. Max Farrugia, IAR’s Chairman in Malta, said that whilst Attard Montaldo is in full support of the hunters on this issue, he has never responded to his own invitations to him to attend ENDCAP meetings (End animals in Captivity.) Other MEPs from his political party, including the Present Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Muscat always answered and when they could not attend gave reasons why not.