Source: European Parliament
Question for written answer E-001340/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Julien Leonardelli (PfE), Christophe Gomart (PPE), Georgiana Teodorescu (ECR), Gilles Pennelle (PfE), Christophe Bay (PfE), Anna Maria Cisint (PfE), André Rougé (PfE), Mélanie Disdier (PfE), Angéline Furet (PfE), Petr Bystron (ESN), Sebastian Tynkkynen (ECR), Mireia Borrás Pabón (PfE), Elisabeth Dieringer (PfE), Markus Buchheit (ESN), Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez (PPE)
The Commission has just brought a case before the EU Court of Justice against wood pigeon hunting in France, which it deems to be contrary to the Birds Directive.
In the south-west of France, chiefly in the regions of Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, pigeon-hunting hides have been set up for hunting of non-protected species. They serve as genuine intergenerational meeting spaces in abandoned rural areas that have been left behind by globalisation.
The hides also enable maintenance and monitoring the forest and its fauna, and prevent the proliferation of certain birds that can sometimes be harmful to ecosystems.
These include cormorants, whose numbers have spiked by 16% in three years, greatly hindering the reproduction of eels and pike, protected river species. Cormorants are overprotected by partisan animal-protection associations, which put pressure on authorities to stand idly by.
- 1.Does the European Commission intend to enshrine traditional hunting, such as wood pigeon hunting in France, as part of Europe’s heritage and way of life?
- 2.Will it guarantee hunting quotas for invasive bird species despite the influence of partisan associations?
Submitted: 1.4.2025