It is a bill that risks electrifying the benches of the National Assembly again. The law commission of the Assembly rejected, Wednesday, November 16, the bill aimed at prohibiting the practice of bullfighting carried by the anti-species activist and “rebellious” deputy from Paris Aymeric Caron.
The text carried by the ex-journalist aims to modify article 521-1 of the penal code, which already punishes animal abuse, to include bullfights. Practiced and authorized only in the South of France, the latter are an exception to the law, since the rules do not apply to them. “when an unbroken local tradition can be invoked”.
Co-signed by more than eighty elected members of the La France insoumise (LFI) and ecologist groups, the bill must now be examined in the Hemicycle on the occasion of the “insubordinate” parliamentary initiative day, Thursday 24 November. The chances of seeing it adopted at first reading are slim, but exist, as the question divides all the deputies.
La Nupes divided: the PS and the PCF mostly unfavorable
Bullfighting has long been a subject of debate on the left. If the elected representatives of Europe Ecologie-Les Verts (EELV) – who unsuccessfully tried to ban the practice in 2013 in the National Assembly, then in 2021 in the Senate – and those of LFI agree in their desire to prohibition, the partition is not the same on the side of the Socialist Party (PS) and the French Communist Party (PCF).
These two very established parties have been defending bullfighting for a long time, which they believe is an integral part of the identity of the territories. In the agreement concluded by Nupes for the legislative elections, the proposal was thus among those which were submitted “ to the wisdom of the Assembly”. It clearly states that “the PS and the PCF will not support the proposals relating to hunting and bullfighting”.
With the approach of a sensitive vote, which “Questions everyone’s ethics and relationship to animals”the Communists of the Democratic and Republican Left (GDR) group will vote in majority against the text, but will leave “freedom to vote” to the few deputies who are in favor of it, informed the Monde its president, the deputy of Puy-de-Dôme André Chassaigne. Within the socialist group divided on the question, the voices should be divided between abstention and vote against, says a deputy.
The right will vote against
The right, which has 62 elected members of the Assembly, shares a more unanimous position on the subject. “There are enough of us” at “to express our attachment to this bullfighting tradition”told Agence France-Presse the president of the Les Républicains (LR) group, Olivier Marleix.
In the law committee on Wednesday, the deputy of Maine-et-Loire Anne-Laure Blin, who defended the position of her group, affirmed that “the LR group will vote[it] against this bill.which attacks “popular culture” et “unifying tradition”.
In their ranks, one of the contenders for the presidency of the Republicans (LR), the deputy of Lot Aurélien Pradié, had notably taken up the subject during the 2021 regional campaign, where he was the candidate in Occitanie, land of bullfighting. The 36-year-old elected then claimed in the columns of Free lunch : “I will fight so that bullfighting is preserved. »
MP Eric Pauget (LR), elected from the Alpes-Maritimes, had however stood out for his singular position in favor of banning the practice, during the debates on the law to fight against animal abuse, in 2021. He declared in The Sunday newspaper : “Would we allow the spectacle of the bull to continue being tortured in conditions of total barbarism and which is killed at the end? (…) It shocks me. »
At the RN, a divide between animalists and elected officials from the South
On the far right, Marine Le Pen is known to be a fervent defender of the animal condition. Leader of the deputies of the National Rally (RN) since June, she spoke out during the presidential campaign in favor of banning bullfighting for minors, but without calling for a total ban.
Au micro de BFM-TV on Wednesday, she reaffirmed this position by indicating that she would not vote for Mr. Caron’s text. According to her, “these are regional traditions that must be preserved” et “emergency” in terms of animal protection is rather to prohibit “slaughter without stunning”.
This crest line held by Mme Le Pen is explained by the fact that his group is also divided on the question. Among the 89 RN deputies, the four RN deputies from Gard – Yoann Gillet, Nicolas Meizonnet, Pascale Bordes and Pierre Meurin – notably let it be known, through the local press, that they would fervently oppose the text carried by the activist. antispecist. The same goes for Emmanuel Taché de la Pagerie, MP for the 16e constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône (Arles), fervent defender of bullfighting.
Conversely, deputies such as Julien Odoul, elected in Yonne and activist of the League of Animals, or the deputy of Marne Anne-Sophie Frigout wish to see the practice prohibited. The first asserted on CNews in August that “the spectacle of animal suffering no longer has a place in France in 2022”.
The government opposes it, but the majority is torn
Unsurprisingly, the government let it be known at the start of the week that it would position itself against the text carried by Mr. Caron. “The question is not to be aficionados (…) It’s part of the tradition.” local cultures, had argued the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, on November 8 on Public Senate. Bullfighting “is not the priority of priorities”added the Minister of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, on November 15 on France info.
It is the Secretary of State in charge of rurality, Dominique Faure, who will be on the bench of ministers on November 24 to defend this position, rather than the Keeper of the Seals, Eric Dupond-Moretti, a fervent defender of bullfighting, a estimated time to do so.
But within the majority, the question of the ban on bullfighting is still embarrassing. In a group meeting, the Renaissance deputies therefore decided on Tuesday for a freedom to vote on this text, but for a common position to condemn the posture deemed to be radical by the “rebellious” deputy on the question.
The president of the group, the deputy of Yvelines Aurore Bergé, positions herself on the side of anti-corrida. While she was not yet the leader of the macronists, she had signed a platform in July 2021 in favor of the prohibition of the practice. A position shared, moreover, by the vice-president of the group, the deputy for Paris Sylvain Maillard.
Deputies from the South, such as Patrick Vignal, elected in Hérault, or even the deputy from Gers Jean-René Cazeneuve, oppose any ban, trying to convince their undecided colleagues to do the same. “It will disappear on its own, there are fewer and fewer of them. It is useless to forbid it and to humiliate people for whom these are traditions”argued the latter to Agence France-Presse.
The thirty deputies of the Horizons group decided in a group meeting on Tuesday for a vote against the text when the deputies of the MoDem of the Democrats group “will vote overwhelmingly against this bill”who “ really attacks our cultural heritage, our identity “, defended the deputy of Pyrénées-Atlantiques Florence Lasserre in committee on Wednesday.
While waiting for the scrapping in the Hemicycle, the debate continues in the street this weekend. Mobilizations are planned in bullfighting towns against the ban, as are actions by animal protection associations in favor of Aymeric Caron’s proposal.
It remains to be seen whether the Assembly will have time to examine the text in session during the very busy day of the parliamentary “niche” of LFI, where it appears in fourth position out of twelve texts presented.