Lhe proposal to ban bullfighting is made by the deputy of La France insoumise Aymeric Caron. However, it was rejected by the deputies in committee on Wednesday, November 16. The ban will still be examined in the hemicycle on November 24 and should be the subject of fiery debates, time permitting, because the agenda will be loaded. Until then, demonstrations of support and protests against bullfighting are planned in several places.
The elected members of the Law Commission supported amendments RN and LR to delete the only article from the text. Under the protests, Aymeric Caron immediately denounced the “big pressure from the lobbies”. Opening the debates, the former journalist castigated the “barbarity” of bullfighting, a “hypocritical ceremony, where the supposedly honored animal is massacred with a precision and a refinement that borders on sadism”. In a serious atmosphere, the deputy from Paris meticulously described the “execution” of the bull. He criticized the pro-corrida elected officials for “electoral maneuvers” to “not offend certain voters in bullfighting regions”.
Its text aims to modify the Penal Code which already punishes animal abuse, but whose sanctions provided for in article 521-1 “are not applicable to bullfights when an uninterrupted local tradition can be invoked”. The LFI deputy hopes to add by amendment the prohibition of cockfights still authorized in the North or certain overseas territories.
Divided political groups
His proposal causes embarrassment in the political groups, where the freedom to vote is required. In the name of defending a “cultural tradition” in the South-West and around the Mediterranean, the government intends to oppose it.
The Secretary of State in charge of Rurality, Dominique Faure, is announced on the bench of ministers on November 24, rather than the Keeper of the Seals, Éric Dupond-Moretti, passionate about bullfighting. Before the Renaissance group on Tuesday morning, Dominique Faure called not to “fall into the radicalism of the deputy” Caron, according to a parliamentary source. We must not oppose emotion and attachment to the land”.
Because the subject divides the macronists. In July 2021, when she was not yet president of the Renaissance deputies, Aurore Bergé had signed a platform to ban bullfighting, deemed “barbaric”. But in committee, MP Marie Lebec opposed the “radicality” of Aymeric Caron’s proposal. “What will be the next regional tradition that we will ban? she warned.
On the far right, RN Timothée Houssin acknowledged the differences in his group. He accused Mr. Caron of “extremism” through his “anti-speciesist agenda” which would push to “ban” tomorrow “foie gras”, “pony rides”, “hunting” then “very short fishing”. Marine Le Pen, who makes the animal cause one of her markers, has been proposing for several years to ban bullfighting for minors.
Sometimes electric, the discussion has often turned for or against Aymeric Caron. On the right, LR Anne-Laure Blin reproached him for looking for the “sensational”. She defended a “popular culture”, an “art and a regional identity”, highlighting the “thousands of sanctuary lands” thanks to “the breeding of wild bulls”. On the left, the PS is “shared”, when LFI and ecologists support the ban.
Pro and anti-corrida mobilizations
The full review of the text and its amendments remains uncertain on November 24. After proposals, such as the smic at 1,600 euros or the inclusion of abortion in the Constitution, it is indeed in fourth position in the “niche” LFI, a day reserved for a minority group, with a closure of the debates at midnight. “We still have to have social first in our niche! ” assumes an elected LFI, skeptical about the ban on bullfighting. “We must not take the people who want it the wrong way,” warns this Insoumis, even if he will vote for the text.
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Mobilizations are planned for this weekend. On Saturday, elected officials from all sides and aficionados will defend bullfighting in several bullfighting towns. Animal protection associations, on the other hand, promise demonstrations against this practice on Saturday and Sunday, including “an action with a strong visual impact” in Paris.
Customary of shock videos, the L214 association broadcast images of “laborious killing of bulls” overnight during a bullfight in Brocas (Landes) on September 24, to support the ban. “Apart from any political consideration”, Brigitte Bardot supported Aymeric Caron, with her foundation for the animal cause.