Hunting: Abruzzo, early closure of the hunt, appeal against the Government under consideration

di Benjo

2 February 2015

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Reading time: 3 minutes of reading

Caccia: Abruzzo, on the early closure of the hunting imposed by the government, some regions, including Abruzzo, are considering the possibility of an appeal against the government. Councilor Cecchini: "We are working for the next calendar, so we can't do anything more".

Stop talking. Enough letters. We pass to the hard way. Thus: "We have given a mandate to the legal office of the Region to verify the possibility of appealing, together with the other Regions concerned, against the provision of the Government which has decided by force to stop hunting for song thrush, Cesena and woodcock starting from January 20th ". Words of the regional councilor for hunting policies Fernanda Cecchini, pronounced during the meeting of the hunting faunal council which met in the regional headquarters of Broletto in Perugia. The commissioner informed the participants of the Consulta of what had happened in recent weeks and that is of the decision of the Government which, using the extraordinary substitute power, closed the hunt for song thrush, cesena and woodcock in six Italian regions. An act for which the Regions of Umbria, Liguria, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Tuscany and Marche have requested an urgent meeting from the ministers for agricultural policies, Maurizio Martina, and for the environment, Gian Luca Galletti and are now coordinating to verify the possibility of an appeal.

“Obviously, Cecchini argued, for this hunting season we can no longer obtain anything, but the dispute with the Government will necessarily have to concern the next 2015-2016 hunting calendar. The Council of Ministers approved, on the proposal of the Minister of the Environment Gian Luca Galletti, the resolutions that assign the Government the extraordinary substitute power to bring forward the deadline for closing the hunt, thus guaranteeing that woodcock, song thrush and Cesena are not hunted during the reproduction period and the return to the nesting site, subject of an imminent opening by Europe of an infringement procedure against Italy. The problem lies in the method adopted, certainly not among the most democratic, to put an end to a problem that the Regions themselves had reported for years, asking the competent Minister to confirm whether or not the hunting periods indicated in Article 18 of the national law 157 of 1992. Umbria, like the other Regions, strictly adhered to the law.

“Instead of this 'commissioner' - the commissioner underlined - we would therefore have expected the Government to intervene involving the parliamentary commissions and the Parliament to approve the changes to the national law. It is unacceptable that an evident inconsistency of law 157, which in art. 1 paragraph 4 declares the complete transposition of the community directives concerning the matter, an affirmation evidently denied by the acts adopted by the Council of Ministers, is then passed on to the Regions. Now, both politically and legally, we will continue this battle. In this way, among other things, we risk, for the next hunting calendar, having to “choose” whether to approve it in contrast with the national hunting law or in contrast with the decisions of the Ministry of the Environment. And this is a knot that can only be solved by Parliament ”.

In the meantime, the minister for agricultural policies, Maurizio Martina, in agreement with the environment minister Gian Luca Galletti, has promoted a meeting with the regional hunting councilors, which will take place in Rome on Saturday 10 February, at 10 am, for address the problems arising from the provision that the Council of Ministers adopted on the early closure of hunting for song thrush, cesena and woodcock. Moral: a solution and a balance are sought.

(February 2, 2015)