Young Spaniards must have free access to bullfighting

THE Spanish supreme court has ruled that it was wrong for ministers to bar young people from spending their €400 (£355) government-funded culture vouchers on going to bullfights.

Judges said the government had not justified the exclusion of bullfighting from the range of activities to be covered by the youth culture scheme.

They said the arena event had been established as a “cultural” and “artistic” activity, pointing to a 2013 law that gave the spectacle protection as an element of national heritage.

The ruling came after the Left-wing government was taken to court by the Toro de Lidia Foundation, the industry body for bullfighting.

Victorino Martín, a breeder of fighting bulls and president of the foundation, said: “This is great news not only for the bullfighting world but for the whole of society.

“This ruling forces any governing official to obey the law, aside from their own tastes and ideology. Bullfighting was excluded on ideological grounds.”

The government introduced the culture voucher in 2022 for anyone who had just turned 18.

Miquel Iceta, the culture minister, took the decision to exclude bullfighting under pressure from Unidas Podemos, the hard-left junior partner in Spain’s coalition government.

He said yesterday that his ministry has accepted the court ruling.

But representatives of the bullfighting sector are calling on the government to compensate them for lost revenue under last year’s scheme which saw vouchers worth €112million (£100 million) distributed to 18-year-olds. “It is clear that if the government has acted illegally and caused harm, it should put that right,” said Lorenzo Clemente, head of the Toro de Lidia Foundation’s legal committee.

According to a culture ministry report from 2021, Spaniards aged from 15 to 19 represent the age bracket that is most likely to attend a bullfighting event, with 10.5 per cent having done so in the period studied.

However, opponents applaud the demise of the spectacle and say that the controversial popular entertainment involving the torture of animals is no longer appropriate in this day and age.