When the Parliament gave the green light on October 25 to process the bill to prohibit the three most controversial types of correbous (bull enroboado, ensogado and a la mar), a hidden battle began between supporters and detractors of the bullfighting festivals, with the parties that will have the key (ERC, PSC and Junts) under the spotlight.
The first fight, now in one of the first steps, with the proposal of the experts who will debate the alleged animal suffering in front of the deputies and public opinion before the law is voted on in Parliament.
Animal rights organizations denounce that bullfighters have requested a hundred appearances with the aim of delaying the processing of the law. To the point of trying to exhaust the legislature through an alleged “obstructionist” strategy so that the bill of En Comú Podem and the CUP is not voted on, at the request of the animal activists.
The Prou Correbous platform ensures that, once the presentation was created within the Parliament's Culture Commission, the bullfighting sector has presented to the parties a list with one hundred proposals for those appearing. The animal activists maintain that, in addition to the Agrupació de Penyes Taurines de les Terres de l'Ebre, there are also the mayors of the Ebrense municipalities with the greatest tradition of festivals with bous, who are the majority.
For animalists, the bullfighting strategy is evidence already admitted by the Terres de l'Ebre Bullfighting Association itself. "The debate can last three months, a year or the legislature can end and nothing has been clarified, which would be a way to stop the coup", said in an interview on Amposta Ràdio the spokesman of the Ebrense bullfighting group, Adolfo Lleixà.
The strategy of the animal activists is also clear: to pressure through public opinion, with the focus on the Parliament and the parties that have supporters and detractors, with letters already sent to the deputies of PSC, ERC and Junts. They ask that the Culture Commission not accept the avalanche of appearances to discern whether or not there is animal suffering and abuse. The information they have received so far points to the admission of a large number of defendants.
Prou Correbous, with the eight entities behind the bill to prohibit half of the 400 bullfighting events in Terres de l'Ebre, have requested 18 appearances. They have sent their proposals to the parties with the exception of PP, Vox and Ciudadanos, against the veto. These are veterinarians, legal experts, former mayors, former deputies and representatives of civil society.
It is the parties that formally present proposals for appearances before the Culture Commission. “We would be talking in total about presentations of about 120-130 people; It will be technically impossible for the bill to be debated in the plenary session of the Parliament before elections are called in February 2025,” says Aïda Gascón, spokesperson for Prou Correbous.
The platform, with eight entities, has analyzed the number of participants in bill proposals of this legislature and assures that the average is thirty; The longest list was 66 in the Democratic Memory of Catalonia bill. “We are facing what could be, by far, the most brazen and cowardly attempt to try to stop a parliamentary debate. We ask PSC, ERC and Junts not to practice filibustering and not to be complicit in the obstructionism of democracy,” they denounce.
