Podemos divert bullfighting funds towards domestic violence

A THIRD of the money allocated to bullfighting in the Madrid regional assembly will be used to fund training programs for the care of domestic abuse victims. 

The amendment was proposed by anti-austerity party Podemos and supported by other opposition groups in the assembly which is currently controlled by the ruling Popular Party. It will divert €414,000 from the €1,329,593 annually set aside for bullfighting and instead be used to train treatment personnel, hire interpreters and pay psychological teams involved with the treatment of domestic violence. 

Speaking on behalf of the insurgent left-wing party, member María Espinosa said that “The budgets have to be used to pay for people’s needs, not to pay the stipend of Ms María Dolores de Cospedal [member of the bullfighting council and PP member] or to fund bullfighting.”

Conservative premier of the assembly, Cristina Cifuentes, pushed back against the move tweeting

“We will maintain our support for bulls, we will readjust the budget in order to accommodate for the amendment without reducing the aid to the ‘fiesta’.”

The move comes amid a growing political rumpus over the controversial Spanish tradition which has seen Madrid Mayor Manuela Carmena cancel a €61,200 subsidy for the city’s bullfighting school, growing local protests, and the out-right banning of the sport in Catalunya.