The French hunters are definitely making enemies.

While the debate in France on the ban on Sunday hunting continues, Brussels is also looking into certain French practices.

The European Commission again asked France on Thursday to put an end to illegal methods of hunting birds, such as the use of glue, regularly denounced by environmentalists.

Brussels had opened an infringement procedure against France in 2019. Not satisfied with the responses from Paris, it had initiated a second stage in December 2020 by formally asking France to comply (publication of a reasoned opinion).

“The Commission is asking France to put an end to the hunting methods prohibited” by the 2009 directive on the protection of wild birds, writes the European executive in a press release published on Thursday.

20 endangered species can be hunted in France

France, which is being sent an "additional reasoned opinion", now has two months to respond to it and take the necessary measures, failing which the Commission could refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union, a procedure which may lead to financial penalties.

The European directive of 2009 prohibits the techniques of mass capture of birds without distinction of species.

"France has authorized several methods of capturing huntable birds, such as nets and trap cages for larks and pigeons, including doves, which are not selective", i.e. which lead to catching other birds than those targeted, and are prohibited in the EU, explains the European executive.

"The use of glue to hunt thrushes is also still authorized by French law, in violation of the directive", regrets the Commission, while hunting with glue has been banned in all the other member countries.



In addition, "France has announced its intention to reopen the spring hunt for greylag goose", also prohibited in Europe, the Commission further deplores.

Glue hunting was certainly deemed illegal in France by the Council of State, the country's highest administrative court, in June 2021. But a 1989 decree relating to this hunting practice has still not been repealed, allowing theoretically it is up to the State to grant occasional exemptions to hunters, even if in practice this method is no longer practiced today.

“Among the 64 species of birds that can be hunted in France, 20 are listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species, which is also contrary to European law,” said declared Matthieu Orphelin, director general of the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO).

French President "Emmanuel Macron had undertaken to remove them from the list of huntable species, we are still waiting", he added.

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