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Letter to the EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Mr Virginijus Sinkevičius about hunting in France
Bournezeau, the 8th of August 2020
Subjet: Traditional Hunting practices and hunting of the turtle dove in France
Dear Sir,
The European Hunting associations of France (Fédération des chasseurs https://www.chasseurdefrance.com/ and L'Association de Défense des Chasses Traditionnelles à la Grive https://www.chasse-grives.fr/ amongst others ) are currently lobbying the newly assigned prime minister Mr Jean Castex and the minister for the Environment Mrs Barbara Pompili to sign some new laws (4 in total) with regard to the catching/ hunting of several (protected) species of birds with glue, nets etc, the so called traditional hunting methods and also for hunting 17 460 turtle doves in the season of 2020/2021.
and
Just recently 4 public consultations (see above) have been launched on these issues. The results of the first three with regard to the hunting with glue, nets etc. have not been published yet however you can see that the final date for handing in one's participation (17 July) has been extended by up to 4 days depending on the consultation.
The public consultation for the hunting of the turtle dove is still open. The aim is to kill three percent of its current population : 17 460 species.
Last year the European Commission sent a letter of formal notice to the French government in which it called on the French authorities to stop illegal bird hunting. This letter seems to have been ignored.
It is unacceptable that the French government even has the gall to publish these new projects open to consultation. The president of the "Fédération Nationale des chasseurs" openly pretends that these hunting methods are completely legal according to the EU Birds Directive.
If the French government signs these new laws, and the European Commission takes action against it then it is the French taxpayer who pays for this concession to the hunters. Have there already been actions taken against France for similar breaches and, if so, what were they?
What can the European Commission do to stop these new laws being signed by the minister which would be a flagrant and repeated breach of EU law? It is also an insult to the other member states of the EU which have taken action to save these birds. How can we achieve cooperation between the member states if one or more countries undo all the good work of the others?
President of association NALA 85480 (protection of animals)
