The deputy of La France insoumise (LFI) Aymeric Caron castigated « l’obstruction » against its proposal to ban bullfighting and withdrew its text, Thursday 24 November. “It saddens me”launched the deputy of Paris, in a very agitated atmosphere in the National Assembly. “Applause, be proud of yourself”quipped the “rebellious” elected official, before promising another “transpartisan bill” on the subject.
The withdrawal of his text sparked a shower of annoyed reactions and reminders of the rules in the hemicycle. “You run away from the debate” for fear of the rejection of the proposal, accused the elected Les Républicains (LR) Anne-Laure Blin, procorrida.
Commissioned to demine this delicate subject, the Secretary of State in charge of rurality, Dominique Faure, admitted that it “crosses the whole society”. But the government opposes the ban on bullfighting, a “ancestral tradition that contributes to the identity of certain territories”she pointed out.
The National Observatory of Bullfighting Cultures was delighted that the “corrida wins by abandonment”. The Brigitte Bardot Foundation condemned the« obstruction » procorridas, a “deep shame for our elected officials”.
The text had been rejected for the first time in the law commission on November 16.
Sometimes electric, the debate between defenders of this “regional cultural tradition” and animal rights activists went well beyond the walls of the Assembly, with pro and anti-bullfighting demonstrations last weekend in bullfighting towns and Paris. A hundred people – the Animalist Party and the L214 association – demonstrated again on Thursday to say a stop to bullfighting near the Assembly.
“Barbarism” against “art”
On Wednesday, during a visit to the salon of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), Emmanuel Macron dismissed an immediate ban. He advocates the « conciliation » between the “local customs” and the “sensitivity” to the animal condition, rather than « l’invective ».
This text was put on the Assembly’s program by the deputy member of the LFI group as part of a “parliamentary niche”, that is to say a day allowing a minority group to set the agenda in the hemicycle. During these days, the debates must be interrupted at midnight, regardless of their progress. However, despite its single article, the bill was covered with more than 500 amendments, mainly from elected National Rally (RN) and Renaissance of bullfighting regions. He is « impossible » to reach “a final vote within the time limit”agreed Mr. Caron.
The text carried by the latter aimed 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”.
In his eyes, bullfighting is a ” barbarity “and “immoral pleasure” where the animal is “massacred”. Supporters of bullfighting like Anne-Laure Blin claim, on the contrary, a « art »a “regional identity”a ” popular culture “ and rent them “thousands of sanctuary lands” thanks to “The breeding of wild bulls”.
two hundred and eighteen elected “of different sensitivities and territories”whose former Macronist minister Christophe Castaner and the boss of LR senators, Bruno Retailleau, signed a platform for bullfighting and against “ecototalitarianism”.