M5S EUROPA: LETTERA ALLE AUTORITÀ SPAGNOLE PER FERMARE MASSACRO TORI BRUCIATI VIVI A MEDINACELI (MADRID)

Subject: Urgent action to stop Toro de jùbilo on 10th November in the Municipality of Medinaceli

Honourable Authorities,
Honourable Commissioner,

The Five Star Movement delegation of MEPs is deeply worried about the incoming news concerning the imminent celebration of the Toro de jùbilo in the Municipality of Medinaceli (Soria).

According to media sources, this event is going to mobilise a great wave of protests. Numerous animal welfare organisations and a growing number of citizens have publicly denounced the atrocities suffered by bulls in occasion of events of this kind, which should never be allowed, neither in Spain nor anywhere else in the European Union.

We, undersigned MEPs, would like to join those citizens and organisations that in Spain and beyond consider that these abhorrent and cruel practices which inflict unnecessary and unjustifiable sufferance to animals should be abandoned once and for all.

In this respect, we would like to stress that generalised disagreement with the aforementioned practices has emerged with force through the petitions received by the European Parliament over the years, especially during the present legislative term.

In our capacity of MEPs we have always supported petitions on banning practices such as burning flammable materials on bulls’ horns (toros embolados) and ‘bull on a rope’ bull-running (toros ensogados) at local festivities as well as petitions calling for the end of bull-fighting. We have also called for ending all forms of financial support to breeding of fighting bulls in the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy.

We do firmly believe that the continuation of these practices is detrimental to the UE as a whole because they constitute a blatant example of how we keep on tolerating situations that deny animal welfare standard across the continent.

In our view, the Member States should fully adhere to Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union not only by granting adequate standards of protection to all animals but also by abandoning outdated practices involving inhumane treatment of animals that should have no place in a civilized Union.

Unfortunately, over the years we have witnessed the Commission taking no concrete actions to address the concerns expressed by citizens through petitions, frustrating any attempt to enhance the public debate on the mistreatment of animals perpetrated in occasion of festivities such as Toro de jùbilo, especially in the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament.

We consider that the silence of Europe on these matters is no longer justifiable. The European public opinion is increasingly less willing to accept any lack of action or interest by the EU institutions, which should promptly address the existing legislative gap on animal welfare. In the eyes of citizens, brutal practices involving the mistreatment of bulls are simply not acceptable, as clearly stressed, inter alia, by the study on Animal Welfare in the European Union commissioned by the Committee on Petitions .

In the light of the above, we ask the competent Spanish authorities to act urgently in order to stop the Toro de jùbilo in the Municipality of Medinaceli.

In order to preserve the credibility of the EU institutions we also invite the European Commission to take into serious consideration the need of proposing concrete solutions aimed at avoiding any form of bulls’ mistreatment across the Union.

With the expression of our highest consideration,

Yours faithfully

The Five Star Movement Delegation at the European Parliament

Isabella ADINOLFI
Laura AGEA
Tiziana BEGHIN
Fabio Massimo CASTALDO
Ignazio CORRAO
Rosa D’AMATO
Eleonora EVI
Laura FERRARA
Piernicola PEDICINI
Dario TAMBURRANO
Marco ZULLO