The Ministry of Culture, led by Ernest Urtasun, has decided to dispense with the National Bullfighting Award this year and has initiated the procedures to its complete eliminationas laSexta has been able to confirm.

The award was created in 2011 with the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and It was first delivered in 2013 to the bullfighter Francisco Manuel Ojeda González, known as Paco Ojeda. The last winner, in 2023, was Julián López, El Juli.

Since Ernest Urtasun assumed the Culture portfolio, he has not given any prize to bullfighting, as was the case with the call for the Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts 2023 (the only ones he has proposed so far).

Urtasun has shown on numerous occasions his anti-bullfighting position and against animal abuse. “There is a majority of Spaniards who do not share animal abuse,” she noted.

The ministry is now beginning the opening of a public consultationwhich is not binding, and which is the first necessary step to modify the ministerial order that regulates the set of national awards of the Ministry of Culture.

This department considers that national awards should be a “faithful reflection” of the evaluations and feelings of society, Culture sources point out.

In recent years, the concern for animal welfare has increased, while attendance at bullfighting shows stands at 1.9% of the population (data from 2021-2022), which is why “a new review” of the awards is timely, ministerial sources point out.