Il Tar L'Aquila, for the first time, condemned the Abruzzo region, the Italian Federation of Hunting and the Ethical Choice Movement to reimburse legal costs on the appeal of environmental associations against the last year's hunting calendar. WWF Italy, ENPA, LIPU, LAV and Lndc Animal Protection had presented the appeal, handled by the lawyers Michele Pezone and Herbert Simone, against the hunting calendar of the Abruzzo Region on which they had intervened ad opposendum the Italian Federation of Hunting and the Ethical Choice Movement.
In the sentence published following the hearing of last February 23, the TAR, as happened also on the occasion of the previous appeals, declared that the appeal was not inadmissible due to a lack of interest because the hunting calendar has exhausted its effects due to the expiry of the term of effectiveness. Moreover, the TAR had already arranged at the time the suspension of the calendar itself for the contested parties, accepting the requests of the environmental associations and thus preventing the advance of the hunting season provided by the Region.
This year, however, the TAR wanted to add some considerations regarding the "stubborn and repeated" conduct of the Abruzzo Region "Violating the regulations on the subject" and it condemned the subjects who have presented themselves against the appeal of the Associations to the reimbursement of legal expenses. The ruling underlines how a “substantial” has been put in place by the Abruzzo Region violation of the general principles on the subject referred to in law no. 157/1992 which requires the Regions to fully and concretely ensure the indispensable measures to concretely ensure the survival and reproduction of huntable species "(underlined several times by the Constitutional Court, see no. 191 of 2011 and, recently, no. 40 of 2020).
However, it appears incomprehensible as the discussion on such a complex issue as hunting must be postponed every year to the tables of the courts instead of being the subject of a constructive dialogue with the interested parties and of a program that places the protection of the precious Abruzzo fauna as the main and essential objective (Abruzzo Live).