Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma19/04/2016 00:00
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The Balearic parliament today took the first step towards the banning of bullfighting by approving the modification to the 1992 animal protection law that the government has raised. This doesn't mean that there is a ban yet, just that the procedure can now move forward to ultimate approval. The ban would also include the "correbou" bull-run in Fornalutx.

The voting was 33 in favour (PSOE, Més and Podemos), 20 against and three abstentions (El Pi). Those in favour concurred in saying that it has taken 24 years since the 1992 law to begin processing the "elimination of exceptions" under that law. Society, it was argued, would be better because it will no longer allow "suffering which alleges to be tradition and culture".

Miquel Jerez of the Partido Popular said that the legislative technique being used would lead to a wide margin of interpretation and would also come up against regulations at state level. If there aren't exceptions, he noted, one of the most important dolphinariums in Europe will have to close (a reference to Marineland).

Jaume Font of El Pi, in saying that his party would be abstaining, added that bulls are a political issue for people who have little work, as there are no more bullfighters. "If you want to regulate animal abuse, then you also have to regulate pets, among other things."

Xavier Pericay of Ciudadanos believed that the legal change would isolate the Balearics from the rest of Spain. "We are against animal mistreatment but this has nothing to do with bullfighting."