ECJ strengthens wolf protection in two rulings

In two rulings by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, the strictly protected status of European wolves was confirmed this month.

The political right is seeking to open the growing population up to hunting.

The northern Spanish region of Castile and León is therefore not authorised to permit wolf hunting as long as wolves remain protected at national level. In a second ruling of this kind, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) reached a corresponding decision this month.

The ruling states that the government of the largest of Spain's 17 autonomous regions, which has been led by the conservative People's Party (PP) since 1987, may no longer treat the wolf as fair game for recreational hunters. For the period from 2019 to 2021, they were granted a quota of 339 animals in an area north of the Duero river.

The left-leaning Spanish government, on the initiative of environment minister and candidate for the next EU Commission, Teresa Ribera, had extended strict protection to all wolves. Under certain circumstances, however, existing regional exemptions were permitted to continue to apply. In its ruling, the ECJ found that this constitutes a breach of the EU Habitats Directive.

A statement from the Luxembourg court says that a wolf cannot be designated as a huntable species in part of a member state's territory if the species' conservation status is unfavourable at the national level.

The environment minister of the region of Castilla y León, Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones, confirmed the ruling and pointed out that no hunting had taken place since the introduction of the national law in 2021.

The latest ruling follows a similar decision by the ECJ on 11 July, which found that exemptions from the general ban on wolf hunting, such as those provided for under the directive applied by the Austrian province of Tyrol, are not permissible.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has thus strengthened the protection of wolves, dealing a further setback to Ursula von der Leyen's EU Commission. The Commission has been trying for some time to make it easier to kill wolves. At the end of last year, it proposed lowering the animals' protection status – from “strictly protected” to “protected”. However, there is no majority among EU member states in favour of the plan.

With this, the judges argued against the line publicly advocated by Ursula von der Leyen. The Commission President had already stated a few months ago that while the return of the wolf was good news for biodiversity in Europe, its spread in some European regions had become a genuine danger – particularly for livestock farming.

Some claim that von der Leyen's commitment to the issue also stems from the fact that a wolf killed her pony “Dolly” at the end of 2022. Numerous media outlets reported on the incident at the time. The wolf “GW050m” was cleared for killing by the regional administration shortly afterwards. However, the administrative court overturned the kill permit.

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