The Italian animal welfare associations, appealing to the sentence of the Constitutional Court which declared the law concerning the Abruzzo Hunting Calendar illegitimate, ask that other regions also comply with the same sentence.
The animal rights activists of Enpa, WWF Italy, Legambiente, Lipu-Birdlife Italy, Lac, Lav and VAS consider the sentence n.20 / 2012 of the Constitutional Court which upholds the appeal of the Government and declares the law on the hunting calendar of the Abruzzo region illegitimate. to which the other regions considered outlawed must be aligned.
In fact, environmentalists say, "The laws of Lombardy, Liguria, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Marche and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano on hunting calendars are to be considered illegitimate. The strategy of some regions to circumvent national and community indications through the instrument of law also falls away. The regions quickly comply with the rules of environmental protection, not only for the exceptions but also for the hunting calendars ".
The environmental associations then continue underlining, "This fundamental sentence of the Constitutional Court, the first on the matter, although it refers in particular to the law of the Abruzzo region (which, moreover, had ceased its effects) has an explicit overall scope and goes to reject any region that has intended or intends to foresee the hunting calendar by means of a law provision, affirming instead the obligation to issue it exclusively in the form of an administrative act " .
According to the Constitutional Court, "The choice that is made with an administrative act is the only coherent one and fits harmoniously into the fabric of law no. 157 of 1992"As it allows" citizens and their representative organizations the possibility of protecting their legitimate interests before the competent administrative judge "and in particular because it would be possible to act, if necessary, quickly on the contents of the calendar such as inserting new protections, changing the times, places, species that can be hunted and the same methods used to carry out hunting activities.
Furthermore, following this logical thread, the Council highlighted that "the selection, both of the huntable species and of the periods open to hunting, implies the engraving of profiles of the protection of the environment and the ecosystem, which are part of the exclusive jurisdiction of the State "and"the national legislator is therefore entitled to impose on the Regions to provide in the form of an administrative act, rather than in that of the law".
Animal welfare associations rejoice at the ruling of the Constitutional Court as it should mean the end for the widespread use of recourse to the law for the issue of hunting calendars by the Regions; according to environmentalists, this expedient would have a cascading effect on many Italian regions in which all regional and provincial acts arising from the Hunting Calendar would be considered illegitimate, thus imploding the entire hunting mechanism.
Finally, the animal rights activists highlight the fact that the Constitutional Court has specified the obligation to issue the hunting calendar "no later than June 15 of each year”Foreseen by 157/92, pointing out that the Regions have never respected this obligation, hoping that from this sentence onwards it will be strictly respected.
It is possible to view the original text of the sentence of the Constitutional Court regarding the Abruzzo Hunting Calendar: Judgment of the Constitutional Court 20/2012 Abruzzese Hunting Calendar.