MILAN – Italy’s Senate has approved a controversial overhaul of the country’s hunting law, advancing legislation that has drawn warnings from European institutions over a potential breach of EU and international nature protection rules.
Passed by 80 votes to 56, with two abstentions, the bill now moves to the Chamber of Deputies, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s governing coalition also holds a majority.
The reform rewrites legislation that has regulated hunting in Italy since 1992. Notable, it defines hunting as an activity “useful to the conservation and protection of biodiversity and ecosystems” and rebrands hunters as “bioregulators”.
It also downgrades the opinions of ISPRA, Italy’s environmental research institute, which currently carry legal weight but would be merely advisory under the new regime.
‘Sparatutto’
Opposition lawmakers have dubbed the reform proposal, officially known as DDL 1552, the ‘sparatutto’ bill – using a video gaming term that translates literally as ‘shoot everything’.
Among other changes, it extends hunting seasons into migration and nesting periods, allows shooting after dark, broadens the list of huntable species and allows a more liberal use of live decoys.
As senators voted, environmental and animal welfare groups staged a protest outside Rome’s Pantheon, where they were joined by opposition MPs.
The European Commission’s environment directorate raised concerns in a letter sent to Rome in December, warning that extending the hunting season beyond 10 February and weakening ISPRA’s role could breach the EU’s Birds Directive.
The letter was made public by opposition senators and environmental groups last month. Brussels also noted that Italy was already subject to an EU Pilot procedure – an informal dialogue to pre-empt official infringement action – over the use of live decoys.
Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida dismissed it as merely “a letter from a bureaucrat”.
A second warning came from the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, regarding a potential breach of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats.
Acting on a complaint by Green senator Aurora Floridia, the chair of the standing committee overseeing the Bern Convention, as it is known, formally asked Italy to demonstrate that the legislation complies with its international commitments.
Meloni’s environment minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said the request was under review. Both interventions are unusual in that they arrived while the bill is still passing through parliament rather than after its adoption.
Hunting associations reject criticism of the reform, arguing that core protections, including the ban on hunting in national parks and protected areas, remain intact. They also note that Brussels has not formally rejected the legislation.
The opposition is expected to table hundreds of amendments in the lower house, as it did in the Senate – where only a handful of more than 900 proposed changes were adopted, all of them from governing parties.
(cs, rh)
