Madrid gives away €4.5 million in aid to bullfighting

The Community of Madrid is going to dedicate  4.5 million euros to a series of grants to support bullfighting bull herds in Madrid, of which 3 million will be allocated up to a maximum of 100,000 euros per livestock.

It is the highest amount promised in Spain to date, well above the 1.5 million euros that the government of Castilla y León will allocate, or the 700,000 euros the government of Navarra. 

The Minister for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Sustainability, Paloma Martín, met this Friday with associations of bull breeders to convey that the Madrid Executive will also make contributions of up to 7,000 euros to each farm, in a plan linked to the Program of Rural development. In parallel, subsidized credits will be made available to farmers through Avalmadrid, to "ensure the financial viability" of the farms.

Martín has also announced that the 'Routes of the bull' will be relaunched as a "sustainable and safe" leisure offer in the face of the pandemic, which will mean "another means of complementary income" for the herds of the region, while the bull is made known fighting in their natural habitat.

The counselor has pointed out that the breeding of wild cattle is "an essential part of the countryside, the landscape and the culture of Spain and the Community of Madrid", and has emphasized that the breeding of the fighting bull is a "traditional activity" that It contributes to the conservation of ecosystems and the increase of biodiversity, as well as to fix the population in rural areas.

For this reason, he continued, the regional government "will continue to support the sector in its claims", especially in its request to the central executive to lower the VAT on its activities.