RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
The tradition of bullfighting is the subject of fierce debate in Europe. On one side there are those who argue the European Union should fund bullfighting as a valuable part of European culture. On the other side are Europeans who say subsidizing bullfighting is underwriting animal cruelty. From Brussels, Teri Schultz has this story.
TERI SCHULTZ: Just as 15 pro-bullfighting organizations erected an elaborate display in the parliament, animal rights activists set up a counterdemonstration a floor above, complete with a nearly life-sized white plastic bull that Euro-parliamentarians could sign in support of banning bullfighting.
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SCHULTZ: Yes - your name.
SCHULTZ: Animal activists like Spanish parliamentarian David Hammerstein believe cutting off E.U. subsidies to breeders of fighting bulls would deliver a death blow to the industry. They currently get about $400 per head per year.
MONTAGNE: Without massive public subsidies both on a European and a national level this bullfighting would not exist.
SCHULTZ: Hammerstein wants an amendment to this year's budget that would stop the funds. A similar effort in 2006 failed. Hammerstein says many politicians are afraid to look unpatriotic.
MONTAGNE: It's a lobby that's powerful because they identify the national pride of the whole country with bullfighting. We feel it's a negative symbol and traditions are there to be changed.
SCHULTZ: Artfully arranged in a large exhibition hall, the industry's colorful multimedia presentation concentrates on the pageantry and tradition of bullfighting with lavish costumes, beautiful photos and soothing narration.
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SCHULTZ: It is the art of dedication and love to the bull, connected by nature as part of evolution. The bull is a noble and brave animal that confronts the challenge and the combat.
SCHULTZ: The video calls bullfighting a $300 million business that provides nearly four million days of labor a year. Even so, polls show more than 70 percent of the Spanish population has no interest in bullfighting. Browsing the hall, bullfighting fan Juan Bilbao(ph) insists that shouldn't affect whether the industry receives government support.
MONTAGNE: The majority in Spain and in England don't go also to the theater, to the opera, so you can't say we can close the theaters and operas because the majority of Spaniards or British people don't go there.
SCHULTZ: Upstairs animal rights activist Alejandra Garcia, who's tending the well-autographed plastic bull, bristles at the comparison.
MONTAGNE: In the theater a man don't kill nothing. OK?
SCHULTZ: Garcia is a member of a Spanish anti-bullfighting group and fumes that Brussels and Madrid give her tax money to a practice she's fighting to end.
MONTAGNE: Why I am obliged to pay this industry? I don't know, and I don't want. It's not justice. That's not democratic.
SCHULTZ: But Euro deputy Hammerstein says he has the answer that would save both the bulls and their breeders' livelihoods.
MONTAGNE: People pay to go on boats to see dolphins. They go to see the monkeys up on the rock of Gibraltar. Why not have bulls and see them on the farm or have them come out with their shepherds, maybe running in certain areas?
SCHULTZ: For NPR News, I'm Teri Schultz in Brussels. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.