After about a year, a response from the Government finally arrives on the question of hunting in derogation, on the possibility of hunting the starling and on the role of ISPRA.
About a year some deputies, including the Hon. Sandro Brandolini, put forward a parliamentary question with which the Government was asked for clarification on the situation in Italy for hunting in derogation; above all, urgent requests were made for the issuing of specific guidelines on the matter, the inclusion of the Storno species among those that can be hunted and finally clarifications were requested regarding the role of the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research in providing the data and opinions of competence.
The Parliamentary question was answered by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, Franco Braga: "With regard to the guidelines for hunting derogations, the Mipaaf proposed an amendment to be included in the text of the 2011 Community law for the modification of article 19-bis of law 157 of 1992 whose purpose is to heal the Community infringement procedure n. 2131 of 2006 with which the Commission contested the system of legitimacy of the exceptions to the taking of bird species (article 9 of directive 2009/147 / EC) issued at regional level, which continues to be substantially ineffective and untimely.
This provision concerns the discipline of all the exceptions provided for by article 9 of the community directive, which must be adopted with an administrative act and in advance such as to allow the exercise of the substitutive power of the President of the Council. The amendment in question eliminates the provisions of article 42 of EU law, article 3, paragraph 4-bis, which provided for the issue of guidelines by decree of the President of the Republic, on the proposal of the Minister for the Environment and protection of the territory and the sea, in agreement with the Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, in agreement with the Permanent Conference for relations between the State, the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano.
Regarding the opinion provided by Ispra for the adoption, by the Regions, of the waiver resolutions, I would like to point out that, as can be seen from the simple reading of the relevant legislation (Law No. 157 of 1992 and No. 221 of 2002) , its acquisition is certainly to be considered mandatory, but not binding. This is also confirmed by a series of recent judgments of the Regional Administrative Courts which have ruled to this effect on the occasion of some appeals regarding exceptions.
In fact, considering that pursuant to article 7 of law no. 157 of 1992, this Institute is a scientific and technical research and consultancy body for the State, the Regions and the Provinces, it certainly cannot replace the Administrations in making their choices in the field of hunting, but only support them from a purely technical point of view. . Moreover, the opinion given by this body on the hunting calendar could, in principle, also be disregarded by the regional administration which, however, is required to express the pertinent reasons.
Finally, as regards the question of the inclusion of the transfer among the huntable species, I would like to remind you that, following the umpteenth negative response from the European Commission, my Administration, in order to prepare a complete and updated picture of the conservation status of this species (the absence of which was objected to by the European Commission) has granted ISPRA, the competent technical body on the subject, the authorization to continue in 2010 the study activity undertaken for the realization of a project concerning the management problems related to the reversal in Italy.
The report recently produced by the aforementioned Institute reaches the conclusion that in our country there are no particular critical situations regarding the conservation status of the species, nor with respect to the environmental situation which does not appear less suitable compared to other countries where it is, instead, huntable. However, I would like to point out that, on the occasion of a meeting called by the aforementioned Department last July, where the issue of the inclusion of the transfer among the huntable species was also addressed, the community representatives reconfirmed the complexity of the procedure to reach the legislative modification of the Annex in question (for which a co-decision procedure is required) and represented the opportunity to fully review the Annexes of the «Birds Directive» in light of the data on the conservation status of the species included therein. This hypothesis, however, could lead to the inclusion of new species, but also the exclusion of others, currently present in the Annexes themselves.
Given this, it is clear that even if the Italian request were considered reasonable and acceptable, as can be predicted, the process for obtaining the hunt for the starling is certainly not short. Also because from the approval in the community follows the procedure for the transposition of the new lists by Decree of the President of the Council, on the proposal of my Administration and in agreement with the Ministry of the Environment.".
Hon. Brandolini, seat of the XIII Commission on interventions regarding damage to agriculture caused by wildlife with particular reference to hunting in derogation and the inclusion of the transfer among the huntable species, declares himself dissatisfied with the response provided by the Government to the question.
In fact Brandolini points out that, at present, the hunt for starling will be possible only in derogation for very limited quantities, while this species is guilty of extensive damage to agricultural crops, damage destined to increase due to the failure to cull specimens last year. . The Honorable Member also reminds us that last year the transfer could not be hunted by way of derogation due to the lack of the prescribed guidelines and that, as the opening of the new hunting season approaches, it is likely that this lack will persist even in the current one. given that the provisions announced by the government for the abolition of the guidelines themselves, which will have to be included in the new community law, will hardly come into force in good time.
To further aggravate the situation there is the question of the opinions of ISPRA, which the Institute refuses to express, citing the lack of data relating to the quantity of birds present on the national territory, forgetting that when it had endorsed the request for making the starling species huntable had ascertained its consistency on national skies. He therefore notes that if the regulatory changes illustrated by the undersecretary could actually allow the problem of the guidelines to be overcome, it could in any case remain impossible to act if ISPRA refuses to express the opinion that, although not binding, it is mandatory to acquire.
The Honorable Brandolini therefore appeals to the Government to want to act in the direction of overcoming these obstacles, to avoid the enormous damage that will be produced to the agricultural sector, already severely tried by the crisis, by continuing the ban on hunting of this species.