“A majority of citizens do not understand that animal torture is practiced and understand even less that these forms of animal torture are rewarded with prizes to which public money is dedicated.” The Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, has been blunt in statements to the television program Al Rojo Vivo when explaining the reasons that have led to the suppression of the National Bullfighting Prize, which has been awarded since 2013 and that as long as there is no change of government It will not have any more deliveries: the Popular Party has assured that they will recover it when they return to power. And various autonomous communities and bullfighting organizations have announced alternative prizes.
Urtasun recalled that “the Ministry of Culture awards national awards in a wide number of disciplines and that this list has been adapted over time because the Spanish reality is evolving. I asked my team to review the awards and we came to the conclusion that taking into account that there is a majority of Spaniards increasingly concerned about animal welfare and that they do not share animal abuse, they understand less and less that it is practiced. animal torture and understand even less that these forms of animal torture are rewarded with prizes to which public money is dedicated, we have made the decision to definitively eliminate the National Bullfighting Prize.
“This also goes hand in hand – Urtasun has remarked – with a significant drop in attendance at bullfighting shows in Spain. In the statistics we have for the year 2022, less than 2% of Spaniards attended some type of bullfighting show. “The Spanish reality is evolving.”
And he explained that they will now proceed to begin the modification of the ministerial order in which the awards are collected and that they have made the decision to explain it at this time “because we had to start now the entire process of establishing the juries for the awards of this year. Without fuss, we have made a decision that I believe is shared by a majority of Spaniards.”
Regarding the dust raised and the announcement by the socialist president of La Mancha Emiliano García-Page that he is creating alternative awards, he has stated that he is going to “avoid all controversy because I believe that each administration within the framework of its powers is free to consider the priorities it want. If anyone considers that today, in 2024, forms of animal torture should be rewarded and with public money, they are free to do so.”
Asked if he planned to ban bullfighting, he recalled that “it is not within my powers.” “There is a popular legislative initiative underway on the issue of the 2013 law that protects bullfighting, but it is something that is up to Parliament to decide and the Cortes will eventually have to rule on that,” he recalled.
Regarding the PP’s announcement that it will recover the awards upon returning to power, it has pointed out that “every time there is a great advance in rights and freedoms, as now in the case of animal welfare in our country, the Popular Party always opposes it. But notice that later, when the Government comes to power, they never dare to reverse the decisions we made because in the end they are supported by a majority of Spaniards.”
