The PSOE reconciles with the hunters at the cost of a new front with United We Can

Patxi López, spokesperson for the PSOE in Congress. Fernando Gómez (Europa Press)

The discomfort of the hunting sector with the Government due to its discrepancies with the Animal Welfare Law was one of the keys to the PSOE signing its worst result in the Andalusian elections.

The PP won by an absolute majority, never seen before, while the Socialists signed their worst result in the once great fiefdom of the left.

The lesson was recorded in blood and fire in La Moncloa and in the socialist headquarters of Ferraz, where they are not willing to repeat it in an electoral course in which the nine regional presidents and 2,700 mayors of the PSOE are playing for re-election.

That will be in May, and the result will be interpreted as a rehearsal for the general elections at the end of 2023, in which Pedro Sánchez could play for re-election in a dozen provinces of inland Spain.

In order to avoid "malicious interpretations" and that the PP and Vox continue to eat up land in the rural world, the PSOE has decided to exclude hunting dogs and other animals that perform specific tasks (sports , grazing, rescue or security tasks with the Armed Forces), always attending to their obligations and care.

In return, the main government party will develop specific legislation for hunting dogs, rehalas, falconry birds and auxiliary hunting animals, complying with the national hunting management strategy, in line with the demands of the sector.

“The Animal Welfare Law would be in any case for domestic animals that live in the family home.

The rest would have regulations along the lines of what European regularization is”,

Reconciliation with the hunters will not come free to the PSOE.

The Spanish Hunting Federation (RFEC), the third with the most licenses in Spain -334,635 in 2020, according to the Higher Sports Council (CSD), only behind football (1,074,567) and basketball (376,352)- "celebrates that the PSOE rectify its position” although it will closely follow the processing of the legal project.

But peace with the sector, which threatened new demonstrations like the one last March, when tens of thousands of farmers, ranchers and hunters from all over the country gathered in Madrid (150,000 according to the Government Delegation and more than 400,000 according to the organization ), many of them socialist militants, has been possible at the cost of a new front with United We Can: the General Directorate for Animal Rights, responsible for drafting the law,

It depends on the Ministry of Social Rights directed by Ione Belarra, general secretary of Podemos.

The reaction of the minority partner of the Executive has been furious.

“Mistreatment is mistreatment regardless of what the animal does.

Or is it that the PSOE is in favor of hanging a dog from a tree, firing a shotgun at it and dragging it to the ground bleeding to death, or burying puppies in quicklime because they are hunting dogs? of United We Can.

The socialist sources consulted emphasize that they are "against animal abuse and obviously there is not going to be legislation in the opposite direction."

“Mistreatment is mistreatment regardless of what the animal does.

Or is it that the PSOE is in favor of hanging a dog from a tree, firing a shotgun at it and dragging it to the ground bleeding to death, or burying puppies in quicklime because they are hunting dogs? of United We Can.

The socialist sources consulted emphasize that they are "against animal abuse and obviously there is not going to be legislation in the opposite direction."

“Mistreatment is mistreatment regardless of what the animal does.

Or is it that the PSOE is in favor of hanging a dog from a tree, firing a shotgun at it and dragging it to the ground bleeding to death, or burying puppies in quicklime because they are hunting dogs? of United We Can.

The socialist sources consulted emphasize that they are "against animal abuse and obviously there is not going to be legislation in the opposite direction."

United We Can complains that the PSOE had not notified him of the amendment —an extreme that the socialist caucus denies— and they maintain that the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, has kept the law “in a drawer because the PSOE was afraid of it. approve it before the elections in Castilla y León and Andalusia”.

In the PSOE they maintain that the regulations have been refined and attend to the requests of the rural world that had been transferred by their mayors and territorial leaders, among whom the idea was widespread that the law was made "with many prejudices" and was "very urban." ”.

The president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, warned on Wednesday that he was willing to resort "to separate hunting" from the Animal Welfare Law "out of common sense."

“There must be someone who has a mania for hunting and has slipped it into an animal welfare law.

We all share that dogs and cats be well cared for, no one is against animal health.

But one thing is domestic animals and another very different thing to strain other types of realities, "she said.

The president of Aragon, Javier Lambán, has also been very satisfied with the PSOE's amendment: "Sheepdogs and hunting dogs will be excluded from the law, which is excellent news that shows sensitivity for the rural environment and its activities" .

The significance of the PSOE movement is demonstrated by the meeting that a group of PP deputies led by the general secretary, Cuca Gamarra, held this Friday in Congress with representatives of the RFEC.

The Socialists achieved in the last general elections 42 of the 103 seats at stake in the provinces that distribute up to five deputies, ahead of the PP (33) and Vox (15).

United we can only three.

In the direction of the PSOE they are pragmatic and, in the face of criticism from their partner, they even trust that United We Can take advantage of their animalistic profile and collect votes from the PACMA, which in the last general elections obtained more than 220,000 votes but no seats.