New majority-opposition clash on hunting reform

Hunting, understood as a hunting activity, does not cease to be a source of controversy in Italia. Centre-left senators led by the PDD have protested against the government accused of having 'hidden' a letter received from the EU Commission with some heavy criticism of the hunting reform bill (number 1552) currently under discussion in the Senate's Agriculture and Environment Commission.

According to the centre-left senators, the letter would point the finger at the extension of the hunting period in hunting farms beyond the ordinary season, at the weakening of the Ispra opinion on possible extensions (from binding to advisory) and at the provisions on the capture and breeding of live decoys by extending the current limit of 40 live decoys per hunter to 40 live decoys for capture and a potentially unlimited number of live decoys for breeding. "But the government - this is the senators' accusation - has kept it hidden".

Federcaccia's comment was harsh. "It is unprecedented,' commented president Massimo Buconi, 'that the EU Commission has intervened on a law that still has to be discussed by Parliament and not yet defined in its final form. On that, if anything, Europe will be able to make its assessments once it has come into force. The Commission's comments on Ddl 1552 are wrong in form and moreover in content. An 'institutional disrespect' to which we hope the government will respond firmly to reiterate that Italia is a sovereign state and it is its bodies, representing the Italian people, that discuss and approve the country's laws. Also on the subject of hunting'.

Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida also spoke on the subject yesterday. 'The reform of the hunting law,' he said, 'is not, as some people say, a law to guarantee poachers. On the contrary. We are presenting an amendment that triples the criminal sanctions for those who do not respect the rules and who must be prosecuted. We want a law that will rationalise an area, hunting, on the basis of scientific data, updating, moreover, a regulation that is considered old by everyone since it dates back to 1992. As science confirms, the agricultural world can no longer bear an indiscriminate increase in certain species such as ungulates'.

And on the subject of hunting, a back-and-forth was also staged at the assembly of Cia Agricoltori Italiani, an association that certainly cannot be accused of being conservative since it has always been close to the centre-left. At the Cia assembly, the head of agriculture, Camilla Laureti, spoke on the subject of hunting reform, saying that 'the government's bill represents a very serious cultural backward step in the protection of biodiversity and the natural heritage'. The president of Cia, Cristiano Fini, replied in close succession. 'Wildlife,' said Fini, 'is the property of the State. But we suffer the damage, damage that absurdly adds to other difficulties. The institutions are obliged to find solutions. Full stop. We are tired, we already have a thousand problems, we cannot have crops destroyed by wild boars or farms mauled by wolves. Wild animals must not stay on our land and damages must be compensated on time. To those who do not want the amendment of 157, to those who do not want the containment of wild animals, I ask: what alternatives do you propose?".