Free hunting in parks and cities, the European Commission warns the Meloni government: “EU rules protect animals”

The rule desired by the Brothers of Italy which allows the hunting of wild boars, wolves, bears and other protected species even in parks and city areas where it has been prohibited until today ends up in the sights of the European Commission. A formal notice has come from Brussels to the Meloni government with a formal letter underlining the EU rules on the matter which go in the diametrically opposite direction to that written in the text approved in the last budget law.

The EU Commission writes: “Through press articles and a petition to Commissioner Sinkeviëius, the Commission services became aware of law 197 adopted on 29 December 2022, whose article 1, paragraph 447 grants the regions the power to carry out checks, and, if necessary , authorize numerical control plans by killing or capturing wild fauna species, even in areas prohibited for hunting, such as protected areas, and in periods of the year in which hunting is prohibited. We wish to draw the attention of the Italian Authorities on the obligations deriving from the Habitats and Birds Directive, and in particular on the following: the two directives provide for the establishment of a network of special protection areas The Habitats Directive requires that Member States establish the necessary conservation measures that comply the ecological requirements of the natural habitat types listed in Annex I and the species listed in Annex II present on the sites. related to the protection guaranteed by the Natura 2000 network, Article 12 of the Habitats Directives provides that the Member States adopt the necessary measures aimed at establishing a system of rigorous protection of the species in their natural range, with the prohibition, inter alia, of any form of deliberate capture or killing of specimens of these species in the wild; deliberately disturb these species, in particular during the breeding, rearing, hibernation and migration periods. That being said, it is deemed necessary to ask the Italian authorities for detailed information regarding Italy’s fulfillment of the above obligations and how the provisions of the Law guarantee compliance with the prohibition of deliberately killing or capturing or disturbing birds. Please reply within four weeks of receiving this letter.”

The newly arrived letter is thus commented by Angelo Bonelli, Eleonora Evi And Luana Zanella from the Left Green Alliance group: “On ‘wild hunting’ in cities and parks, towards any wild species, Europe warns the Government of the risk of opening an infringement procedure and asks our country to respect the protection obligations envisaged by the Habitats and Birds directives.The majority, therefore, not only endangers the protection of the environment and protected species with the aim, not too veiled, of favoring the side-by-side lobby, but also makes the Italians pay for their wicked choices directly on the whose pockets the infringement procedure will weigh. It is time for politics to change course and seriously deal with the protection of common goods, fauna and territories, rather than following the agenda of hunters and gunsmiths”.