The animal welfare law remains up in the air due to the differences between PSOE and Unidas Podemos on hunting dogs

Ione Belarra, Minister of Social Rights and General Secretary of Podemos.efe

The animal welfare law, one of the main points of friction between the PSOE and Unidas Podemos, runs the risk of not being approved due to the irreconcilable differences that the treatment of hunting dogs, rehalas and auxiliary animals raises in the Government.

The presentation of the Social Rights commission has been suspended this Tuesday due to the lack of understanding between the members of the Executive, as already happened on Monday, but without a future date having been set to try to reach an agreement on another of the laws that depend on one of the ministries of the minority partner of the Government.

The Socialists maintain a red line that Unidas Podemos does not share: that the future law, if it goes ahead, applies "exclusively" to companion animals.

The commitment of the PSOE is that hunting dogs and other animals that perform specific tasks (sports, grazing, rescue or security tasks with the Armed Forces) have "their own legislation as established in the National Strategy for Hunting Management" , but Unidas Podemos believes that it is a concession from the socialists to the Royal Spanish Hunting Federation (RFEC).

Sources from the minority partner of the Executive understand that the situation has reached such a deadlock between the negotiators of the parliamentary groups in Congress that mediation at higher levels within the Government would be convenient.

Sources from the federal leadership of the PSOE coordinated with La Moncloa are blunt: the animal welfare law will not affect animals that carry out hunting activities or other tasks.

And they will not make any concessions on this issue, which is very sensitive in the rural world and which could be decisive in some autonomous communities where the PSOE governs in the May elections.

The compromise amendment that the PSOE presented on Monday, and which was joined by the PP and the PNV, very similar to the one registered in September, included as a novelty that "in any case" the corresponding regional legislation should be complied with, as regards which they consider a nod to the proposal of the

of Unidas Podemos: the law of Castilla-La Mancha in force since 2020 establishes that hunting dogs are only exempt from the sanctioning application of the norm while they practice hunting work.

The rest of the time the law would apply to them like any other dog.

But neither the alternative proposed by United We Can convinces the PSOE nor vice versa.

Emiliano García-Page himself is the first to not trust and has been suspicious of the alternative presented last week by the Minister of Social Rights and Secretary General of Podemos, Ione Belarra.

“The simplest thing is for the Government to abide by the amendment that the PSOE has raised at the federal level that in one way or another is agreed with the hunting sector of the country and easily summarizes it, leaving all aspects of the world for a different regulation hunting.

Meanwhile, the RFEC, the third federation with the most licenses in Spain (334,635 in 2020 according to the Higher Sports Council), only behind football (1,074,567) and basketball (376,352), and with great influence in the middle of the provinces of Spain, has increased the pressure on the PSOE in recent days so that the hunting sector is not affected by the regulations.

The organization considered "unacceptable" and a "manipulation that intends to deceive the citizenry, the entire parliamentary arc and ridicule the PSOE" the proposal of Unidas Podemos to take the

about hunting dogs to unlock state law.

The hunters have been urging for months the withdrawal of the Animal Law bill and the modification of the Penal Code, and they support the amendment presented by the PSOE and that of other parties such as the PP, which on this issue coincides with the Socialists.

"Facts such as those of today show what the RFEC has been denouncing since the beginning of the processing of the project of an ideological law, without any technical, scientific and legal foundation, and that has not had the participation of all the affected sectors, being the most rejected legislative project in history.

Therefore, we reiterate once again to Podemos and the Ministry of Social Affairs that this bill must be withdrawn ".

The president of the RFEC, Manuel Gallardo, has come to warn United We Can that without the PSOE amendment “the result of his disloyalty, he will drag his government partner into a conflict of unforeseeable consequences due to his closure.

Although it seems that they do not care as long as they impose their ideology on society.

"Hunters, of course, we are not going to take a step back and we are going to continue demanding the withdrawal of some pernicious, harmful and detrimental projects for the hunting sector and the entire rural world," he added.

The hunters already made a show of force last March with a demonstration that brought together tens of thousands of farmers, ranchers and hunters from all over Spain in Madrid (150,000 according to the Government Delegation and more than 400,000 according to the organizers).

Hundreds of hunters with PSOE cards attended the call in the capital, for which the regional hunting federations chartered 1,185 buses, of which 362 departed from Andalusia, 143 from Extremadura and 142 from Castilla-La Mancha.

Leaders of the entire ranks of the PSOE, from mayors to provincial secretaries and territorial leaders, warned of the flight of votes that would even involve Vox.

After that first warning came the socialist catastrophe in the Andalusian elections,

in which the PP shot up to an absolute majority due to factors such as rural unrest with the drafting of the animal welfare law.

Ferraz and the PSOE barons took note and have closed ranks.

There is a compelling reason: the nine regional presidents and 2,700 mayors of the PSOE are playing for re-election within six months.

“Nobody would understand that a law that comes from the Government and that had an agreement within the Government can fall in Parliament.

I am confident that we will reach an agreement, that we can protect all animals, which I believe was the shared objective of this Government”, observed Belarra in the subsequent appearance before the Council of Ministers.

700 PSOE mayors are at stake for re-election within six months.

“Nobody would understand that a law that comes from the Government and that had an agreement within the Government can fall in Parliament.

I am confident that we will reach an agreement, that we can protect all animals, which I believe was the shared objective of this Government”, observed Belarra in the subsequent appearance before the Council of Ministers.

700 PSOE mayors are at stake for re-election within six months.

“Nobody would understand that a law that comes from the Government and that had an agreement within the Government can fall in Parliament.

I am confident that we will reach an agreement, that we can protect all animals, which I believe was the shared objective of this Government”, observed Belarra in the subsequent appearance before the Council of Ministers.