You are here: Home / News Articles / European Union threatens Spain with court action over hunting of protected birds
The European Union’s executive has stated Spain could be taken before the bloc’s courts unless it updates its laws on the hunting of protected songbirds.
The European Commission has given the country two months to bring its conservation laws in line with EU standards.
The executive’s call is in relation to five species: the goldfinch, the common linnet, the European Serin, the finch and the greenfinch.
The Commission said Spain should ban hunting the birds with nets. It added that breeding the birds in captivity was not a “satisfactory alternative.”
“The numbers of affected species should remain at a satisfactory level. In Spain, these conditions are not met,” The executive said.
Hunting associations have previously said their practices, including hunting with nets, were deep-rooted traditions in the areas still using them.
Some of Spain’s autonomous communities have passed anti-hunting laws in line with the standards set by Brussels.
The Commission said Spain needs to alter its rules at a national level in order to be in compliance with EU rules.
You are here: Home / News Articles / Pamplona assures women its bull-running festival is safe after Wolf Pack assault
Protesters do a sit down in front of the Spanish Parliament during a demonstration against the release on bail of five men known as the “Wolf Pack”
Officials in the Spanish city of Pamplona are seeking to reassure women that its annual bull-running festival this week is safe to attend after the assault of a young woman at the 2016 event sparked protests for tougher punishment of sex crimes.
The festival, a raucous, alcohol-fueled event where mostly men volunteer to be chased by bulls down narrow streets, begins on Friday. Suggestions of a boycott have circulated on social media as anger persists over the 2016 attack carried out by five men who called themselves the “Wolf Pack”.
“Faced with calls not to come to the festival, I would make a call to women that Pamplona is a city whose institutions and society have said they will not allow assaults,” said city councillor for security and community Itziar Gomez.
Gomez and her colleagues at Pamplona’s municipality have launched a campaign called “Pamplona – free from sexist assault”.
“Now more than ever we women have to fill the streets, fill the ‘fiestas’ and fill the night because you will have that assurance that there are women in the street with you,” said Laura Berro, city councillor for equality and LGBTI issues.
The Wolf Pack case has coincided with a feminist resurgence in Spain. Chants of “I believe you, sister” and “Drunk and alone, I want to get home” have rung out across town squares and taken on a similar weight to the #MeToo label used to denounce sexual harassment in the United States.
Facing calls to ramp up equality policies, Spain’s new Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has appointed a female-dominated cabinet and reinstated a ministry for equality headed by the deputy prime minister.
Sofia Castanon, a member of parliament for anti-austerity party Podemos, whose support was key in helping Sanchez overthrow his predecessor in June, welcomed the prime minister’s cabinet makeup and the equality ministry but said: “Gestures are not going to cheer me up. They mean we can demand actions.”
Pamplona’s clampdown, coordinated with thousands of police officers, specialized staff and helplines in dozens of languages to deal with incidents, dates from before the Wolf Pack case but has now taken on national significance.
Women’s groups say the increase is due to more victims coming forward, indicating greater awareness of what constitutes sexual assault and more faith in the official response.
Gender inequality in Spain’s law and judicial system has become a major focus of women’s rights’ campaigners. Sanchez’s government has given few details about its planned review of the penal code, but much of the criticism of the ruling has been aimed at those applying the law.
“With some exceptions of course, judges in this country are generally cut off from social reality, have been educated in a patriarchal system, and have more empathy with men than women,” said Altamira Gonzalo Valganon, vice president of Themis, an organization of female legal experts.
“The sentence is an embarrassment because it’s as though the victims need to justify something, when they are the ones who suffered,” said Maitane Hermoso de Mendoza, 26, who works in a bar in Pamplona.
“After this case, people are taking all these things more seriously. It’s sad to say, but it has served to make people more aware of what’s going on.”