The failure of �Proyecto Minotauro�
In the Summer of 2002 the
Spanish press printed an article
about a project called �Proyecto
Minotauro� (Minotauro Project).
The article featured a glorifying picture
of fighting bulls in the sunset.
And that was what it was all about,
promoting the torture of Spanish
fighting bulls in blood fiestas.
Several towns in Spain, Portugal and
France were uniting to promote their
respective �art� and �culture� of
blood fiestas. Even Italy had been
mentioned.
This would have been bad
enough, but what they really wanted
was to get funding from the Interreg
IIIC programme of the European
Union, to achieve this goal.
Interreg IIIC funds are granted to
strengthen and create a balanced
economic and social development
throughout the EU. �Proyecto
Minotauro� would apply for the
enormous sum of � 1.300.000
We knew instantly that we had to
follow the developments closely to
be able to prevent this from happening.
The European taxpayer is
already subsidizing bullfighting by
premium payments to the breeders of
fighting bulls. That our taxpayers�
money should be used to actually
promote this animal cruelty would
be simply outrageous.
The founders of �Proyecto
Minotauro� meant serious business.
A Madrid based professional consulting
firm was hired to present the
project to Interreg officials, in
Brussels on January 10, 2003.
The true nature of the project
would be disguised as a �cultural
exchange�. People from the towns
involved would travel to learn about
their respective bloody traditions.
Tourism fairs would be attended. A
website would be created and videos
would be produced. Plus a trademark
would be created to guaranty the
�quality� of the fiestas.
By mid December enough evidence
had been built up for us to
strike. Together with the Madrid
based successful Asociación
Nacional Para la Protección y el
Bienestar de los Animales
(ANPBA), we sent Commissioner
Michel Barnier and his aides, who
were responsible for Interreg, a
package. It contained a video on
blood fiestas, which was filmed by
us. We included statistics on human
and animal accidents during the
blood fiestas of these particular
towns, reports about bulls being shot
by the Guardia Civil, because the
animals escaped during the fiestas
etc. Each and every article from the
Spanish press was included.
On December the 18th we, together
with (ANPBA), gave a presentation
on blood fiestas in the European
Parliament in Strasbourg. We
warned the European Deputies about
the imminent danger and asked them
to get involved.
The number of towns had been
changing over the months. In the end
only nine towns signed up. However,
we were in for a shock: early in
January 2003 the Spanish press
reported that the island of Crete was
going to participate. And we were
very apprehensive, because we were
told the Interreg IIIC office in
Valencia/Spain was going to have
the final say about the project.
We decided to put on more pressure.
Together with the German animal
rights organization
�Tierdach.de� a website was created,
which enabled people to send a
protest e-mail with only one mouse
click. The e-mail automatically went
to Commissioner Barnier�s office,
the European Ombudsman, the
Interreg IIIC office in Spain, the
Greek EU-presidency and Greek
tourism authorities. We received
copies of the e-mails and letters, and
the number was absolutely overwhelming!
Hundreds and hundreds
of people from all over Europe got
involved. And we received e-mails
from inhabitants of Crete telling us,
they were appalled by �Proyecto
Minotauro�.
Meanwhile Belgium and Dutch
anti-bullfighting organizations
joined the campaign, as did several
Spanish animal rights groups. Since
the mayor of San Sebastian de los
Reyes, one of the mentors of
�Proyecto Minotauro�, Angel
Requena, is a member of the Green
Party, the Spanish animal rights
activists put relentless pressure on
the Greens. European Deputies got
involved too and Alexander de Roo,
from the Dutch Green Party even
asked a parliamentary question of
the Commission.
In spring the Interreg IIIC people
issued a statement saying that up to
now they had not found any irregularities
in the presentation of the
project. We thought that was it.
Typical! The animal abusers get their
way with the clever manipulation of
bureaucracy.
But finally in July good news, we
received official written confirmation
that funds for �Proyecto
Minotauro� had not been approved
in the June session of Interreg IIIC.
We celebrate this as a big victory for
animal rights people all over Europe
and of course � for the animals.
By Mechthild Mench, INITIATIVE ANTI-CORRIDA
http://www.anti-corrida.de
Animal 2ooo http://www.animal2000.de
and Tony Moore, FIGHT AGAINST ANIMAL CRUELTY in EUROPE (FAACE)
http://www.faace.co.uk
More information: http://www.antistierkampf.de - Viola Kaesmacher -
Tierdach.de, Germany
http://www.bienestar-animal.org AANPBA, Spain
http://www.bulls.be - Anti-Bullfighting Committee (ABC), Belgium
http://www.stieren.net - Comité Anti-Stierenvechten (CAS), Netherlands
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