The European Parliament has rejected bullfighting. In a vote on Wednesday, the parliament decided by 335 votes in favour, 297 against and 60 abstentions that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should not subsidize "cattle farms" where the animals are intended for "bullfights".
The chamber had already backed the abolition of such aid in 2015 and has now ratified it before negotiating the entire package of CAP reforms with the individual states. Talks will be held over the coming months and the CAP reform is not expected to take effect before 2022.
Until now, the CAP had been one of the ways in which EU money had supported bullfighting practices through funding of cattle raising. The aid did not distinguish between the precise agricultural activity for which the funds were used.
This amendment was passed by the Green/ERA group (including Catalan party ERC), Socialists, some members of the Liberals, the United Left (which includes Podemos, Bildu and IU) and also Catalonia's JxCat. However, doubts still remain about whether it will in practice be fulfilled. This depends on negotiations that the European Parliament will hold with the European Council and the European Commission.