EU sues France over bird hunting with nets
13/2/2025 6:14
The European Commission
said on Wednesday it is taking France to the EU Court of Justice
after the country ignored repeated warnings over failing to ban
bird hunting with nets.
It said France still authorises the use of horizontal and
vertical nets to catch certain bird species in five departments
in Southwest France, despite the EU Bird Directive's ban on
large-scale, non-selective capture methods, the Commission said.
"The use of nets to capture birds is prohibited, unless
member states meet the strict criteria for derogation allowed
under the directive, but France has failed to demonstrate that
the disputed nets meet those criteria," it said in a statement.
The Commission has sent repeated warnings to France, in
2019, 2020 and 2023, and said that efforts by the French
authorities have to date been insufficient. Therefore it is
referring France to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The French environment and agriculture ministries did not
respond to a request for comment.
The EU's Birds Directive aims to protect all species of wild
birds that occur naturally in the EU and bans activities that
directly threaten them such as deliberate killing or capture,
destruction of nests and removal of eggs, and associated
activities such as trading in live or dead birds.
Yves Verhilhac of the French Bird Protection League said
that for decades, successive French governments have ignored EU
bird protection directives and have used every possible avenue
to circumvent EU legislation to protect birds and wildlife in
general.
"What is happening in France is catastrophic, lawmakers fail
to resist populism and cave in to the hunters' and farmers'
lobbies. We are tired and on the ropes, and the EU is our only
hope," he said.
In an earlier bird protection case, the EU Court of Justice
in 2021 ruled that the traditional French practice of trapping
songbirds with glue was illegal and could not be authorised by
the state.
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