Hunting in Piedmont: Hon. Daniele Galli (FLI) on the postponement of the opening in Piedmont promotes an immediate parliamentary question about the "denied the right of hunters".
Deputy Daniele Galli met representatives of various Piedmontese hunting associations this morning, who were denied the right to exercise a sport for which they paid (in advance) fine provincial, regional and government taxes. Piedmont is the only Italian region in which hunting will not open as usual in mid-September: an appeal to the TAR has in fact obtained its suspension. Galli supports the good right of hunters to practice an activity that is blocked due to a series of defaults by the Region, at least according to the applicants to the TAR.
“The Piedmontese issue - states Galli - is symptomatic not only of intolerance towards hunting, a right recognized by national laws, but above all of the inability of the regional council to consistently prepare the hunting calendar according to the rules. Not even the Giunta Bresso, which even governed with greens and environmentalists, had managed to block the hunt, something in which the current majority has succeeded very well. Even the new calendar prepared in a hurry by a region, which clearly shows its functional limits, is certainly not immune from further arrows and appeals by environmentalists armed with a request for suspension ”.
Continuing the deputy affirms, “The damage done to hunters is not only moral, but also economic, given that the 30.000 Piedmontese pay a regional tax of more than 2.000.000 euros, a government tax of about 5.000.000. and 3.000.000 to the provincial ATCs, per season. If the shotguns are silent, the economic damage would be much higher than imaginable, it would involve the sector of game farms (yes, the pheasants and hares hunted are raised neither more nor less like calves), that of hunting companies, that of armories and of all the related industries. The hunters, who are stolen from something they paid in advance, have every right to seek compensation from the Region for the damage they have caused by their bad behavior ”.
Finally Galli concludes by saying, “We must also stop criminalizing hunting, as it seems to be the main activity of associations that know little or nothing about hunting. The hunter is not the bellou brute dedicated to the destruction of the environment, among other things it is good to remember that there is much more sportsmanship in hunting than in ritual slaughter, by slaughtering and bleeding, a practice of barbarism against animals that we allow in Italy and against which animal rights activists do not lift a finger ”.
Attached is the text of the question filed today 17 September 2012 in the Chamber by the Hon. Daniele Galli.
URGENT QUESTION
Presented by Deputy GALLI Daniele
The 17 September 2012
To the Minister of Agricultural and Forestry Policies
To the Minister of Economy and Finance
Given that:
- the Piedmont Regional Administrative Court accepted the request for suspension of the 2012-2013 hunting calendar prepared by the Piedmont Region, advanced in the appeal against this regional deed presented by the associations LAC (Lega abolizione caccia), Pro Natura and Fondazione per l'Ecospiritualità, an appeal that will be dealt with on the merits on October 23, and at the basis of which there are the following reasons: lack of the regional wildlife hunting plan, absence of the impact assessment envisaged for the Natura 2000 network and non-compliance with the Ispra opinion regarding hunting periods;
- following this suspension, the planned opening of the hunting activity on 16 September could not take place regularly;
- with an urgent resolution adopted by the Piedmontese Regional Council on 14 September, immediately enforceable, which acknowledges the findings made by Ispra, the selection of ungulates is allowed from Saturday 15 September and hunting for wild boar from Sunday 16 September, while for ornithic and leporid species of should leave on 30 September;
- the associations concerned have announced that they will further appeal against the regional resolution: lospiffero.com/buco-della-serratura/caccia-si-torna-a-sparare-6226.html
- the approximately 30.000 Piedmontese hunters have in any case paid in advance a regional tax estimated at 2.000.000 euros, a government tax of approximately 5.000.000 euros and the contribution requested by the provincial hunting territorial areas of approximately 3.000.000 euros, and suffer damage not only moral, but also economic, due to the suspension of one's right due to the error of the Region;
- the uncertainty linked to the announced future appeals could also be resolved with the acceptance of the same and with the definitive cancellation of the hunting activity for the 2012 - 2013 season in the whole of Piedmont, the only case in Italy;
- in addition to the infringement of the right of hunters, a right recognized by national laws, albeit within the limits of regional competences, the damage to individuals must be considered for the part of the tax paid for an activity that they cannot exercise, and the economic damage they have already immediately and that they risk being subjected to related activities, from wildlife hunting companies to game farms, to the armory and related industries;
The competent Ministers are asked to find out:
- how they intend to act to ensure that the right of hunters to practice hunting can be practiced, the regulation of which is devolved to the Regions that must ensure its feasibility;
- how they intend to deal with the damages deriving from the regional non-compliance in terms of planning the hunting activity, whether they are considered from the point of view of the interruption of the lawful activity or from the economic point of view;
- if and how they intend to act in order to pay a refund of the taxes paid by hunters proportionate to the time of interruption of the activity from 16 to 30 September, and in the case of acceptance of further appeals and total suspension of the 2012-2013 hunting calendar for the entire seasonal period;
- if it is meant, in the event of suspension by the Piedmont Regional Administrative Court of the entire 2012-2013 hunting program, taking into account the further damage that the suspension of the hunting activity would cause to the environment and the ecosystem as it cannot regulate the impact of harmful species on the same, and since the matter of environmental and ecosystem protection is the exclusive competence of the State pursuant to art. 117 of the Constitution, to exercise the substitutive power towards the Entity in question for the specific sector.
- if it is not intended to verify, also the adherence to the community directives on the subject of what has been put in place by the Piedmont Region.
September 15, 2012 - Amended on September 17, 2012