Who are the accusations coming from?
With a note taken from ANSA Stefano Vaccari, leader of the Pd group in the Agriculture commission and secretary of the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, responds to the accusations made against him by a series of animal rights and environmental associations (Enpa, Lac, Lav, Leidaa, Lipu, Lndc Animal Protection, Oipa, National Federation Pro Natura and WWF Italy) who strongly criticize him for having, in their opinion, signed amendments in support of the Honorable Bruzzone's bill to reform the Hunting Law.
The reform of the Hunting Law
“For a shared choice of the PD group with the national secretariat of the party we have presented a series of amendments to the Bruzzone bill for the partial reform of law 157/92. In the first instance, marking its political importance with the signature of the group leader of the environmental commission Marco Simiani, we presented the suppressive amendments of the entire article to signal our clear opposition to the proposal both in terms of the chosen method and in substance. Then we presented a series of amendments first signed by my colleague Forattini and the other PD members of the Agriculture commission, to put the role of Ispra, of community directives and the role of Agriculture in the management of wildlife and hunting at the centre, in close harmony with the opinion given by ISPRA to the proposal and taking into account the hearings held" declared the Hon. Vaccari at ANSA.
Birds Directive
“In subsequent meetings of the Commission – continues Vaccari – I indicated that we would present a preliminary ruling on Constitutionality as a PD in the Chamber and I asked that the letter of formal notice from the European Commission regarding the Birds Directive be included in the Commission's work for the provisions of hunting regulation in our country. A position in the light of day and consistent with the position of the Democratic Party on the issues of biodiversity, environmental protection and hunting. The accusations made against me by some environmental and animal rights associations, with whom we are willing to deal without prejudice and with mutual respect, therefore appear not to correspond to reality, in the same way as we do with agricultural organizations and hunting associations".
The role of ISPRA
In a subsequent agency published by AGI, the Democratic deputies of the House Agriculture Committee returned to the issue: “Our summary work done in the House Agriculture Committee was serious and reasoned. That there was no need for the Bruzzone bill is clear and shared by all of us, and the repeal amendments demonstrate this. In our discussions we have in fact always supported the validity of Law 157 and, with this measure under discussion, we have taken the opportunity to ground the changes that intend to bring ISPRA back to the center of decision-making processes. All this because we are only and exclusively in favor of seriously regulated hunting. It is unfortunate that the associations give a reading that is so far from the objective purposes of our amendments" (source: FIDC).