Motion passed to end European subsidies for bullfighting

18-05-2021

In April, Leonie Vestering (Party for the Animals), member of the Lower House of Dutch parliament, submitted a motion against European subsidies for the breeding of bulls for bullfights. The motion was adopted with 142 votes. With this motion, Dutch Minister Schouten of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality was asked to make an effort to achieve the end of these European subsidies.

CAS International has been working for years on ending the European subsidies to bullfighting. CAS works together with politicians in the Netherlands, Spain and other European countries to achieve this goal.

In 2013, the Dutch Parliament decided unanimously to end the European subsidies that go to bullfighting. Also in 2015 the European Parliament decided, after intensive lobbying among others by CAS International, that this flow of money should be stopped. Anja Hazekamp, MEP of the Party for the Animals, asked questions about these European subsidies to the European Commission in 2015. The European Commission has not yet stopped these subsidies because it is not clear exactly how the money flows.

Pressure on the European Union

In 2018, CAS contacted all Dutch parliamentary groups to put pressure on the European Union from the Netherlands. Christine Teunissen, then a member of the Dutch Senate for the Party for the Animals, asked questions to Minister Schouten during the General European Reviews on the future of the Euro and the future of European agricultural policy.

She explicitly asked the Minister what the Netherlands has done to finally satisfy the widely held desire to end bullfighting. Teunissen presented a motion instructing the government to plead in the EU for an end to subsidies for bullfighting. Schouten eventually advised against the motion.

Bullfighting and Europe

Bullfighting is banned in most countries of the EU or is no longer practiced. Three countries in the EU do have bullfights. Spain and Portugal have bullfighting and no ban on it. France bans bullfighting, but grants a large number of departments in the south of the country an exemption for bullfights, which are allowed there for reasons of cultural history. Unfortunately, through subsidies provided by the EU to the agricultural sector, money ends up in the hands of the bullfighting industry.

Transparency

CAS believes that it should be clear how the money flows to the breeders of fighting bulls. Through this transparency, it will become clear how money ends up in the bullfighting industry. Once it is clear how this is done, it can be stopped according to the wishes of the European Parliament. The subsidy policy is currently being reviewed. This offers new opportunities.

Our petition supports this wish and the decision of the European Parliament to stop this subsidy flow. This petition was started some time ago, we are collecting the signatures to use them when appropriate.

Sign here the petition against the European subsidies that go to bullfighting.