The poster above is from the campaign material protesting against bullfighting in the Azores.
A resolution asking for an end to EU subsidies made to the bullfight was approved unanimously by the Dutch Parliament last week.
The proposal made by the Party for the Animals, led by Marianne Thieme, received support from all parties and Parliament will now formally ask the EU to amend agrarian policies such that spectacles involving cruelty to animals will not be subsidised by European taxpayers.
A group of MEPs recently presented a study entitled “Bulls and taxes. Subsidies from Spain and the EU for bullfighting and breeding”, which reveals that the EU gave nearly 130 million euros for the breeding of fighting bulls via the Common Agricultural Policy.
Breeders of Portuguese bulls (and some French) also benefit from some thousands of euros annually, in order to breed animals with the physionomy and behaviour suitable for the bullfight.
~ Thanks to the group BASTA – ENOUGH – for permission to reprint.
www.basta.pt/pagartouradasnao – site in Portuguese.
Alyn Smith, an SNP Member of the European Parliament, has started a campaign calling for an end to the European money that is subsidising bullfighting. Alyn and other MEPs said the European Commission should investigate the inappropriate use of European funds.
A new report estimates EU subsidies for bullfighting in Spain amount to at least €129.6 million, mainly through Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) programmes which are supposed to support farmers producing food. Instead they’re being used to breed bulls for fighting.
The animal welfare issues surrounding bullfighting and other cruel fiesta events are well-known. Whether it’s a bullfight in Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, the Toro de la Vega or the Pamplona Bull Run, the barbarity of this mistreatment of animals cannot be justified and we should not be subsidising them. These blood sports have no place in the 21st century.
The EU is committed to animal welfare. It’s time to stop supporting this cruelty and end subsidies for farms rearing fighting bulls. Agricultural subsidies should be used to help farmers produce food, not to satisfy an outdated and abhorrent animal sacrifice.
If you’ve not yet done so, you can sign the petition at:
http://www.alynsmith.eu/bullfighting?recruiter_id=11578