Word: parliament
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...After decades of both intense anti-bullfighting activism and benign neglect (Las Arenas hasn't hosted a bullfight since 1990), Catalonia may become the first of Spain's autonomous regions to officially ban the sport. At the end of October, the Catalan parliament will begin the first round of voting on a popular initiative that seeks to outlaw bullfighting completely - and establish one more difference between the region and the rest of Spain. If the initiative survives the vote, lawmakers can propose amendments before a final vote is held, probably by end of year. (See pictures of bullfighting...
...sign of popular support for the measure that we were able to collect 180,000 signatures - three times the number we needed to present a legal initiative before parliament," says Jennifer Berengueras, spokeswoman for Prou (the word means "enough" in the Catalan language), the association that organized the campaign...
...deputies are likely to cast the critical deciding votes on the initiative in parliament. Although some pro-autonomy parties like the Catalan Republican Left will be voting for the motion in a bloc, the more conservative CiU is allowing its deputies to vote their conscience. And that may just be enough to pass the ban. "There are some within the party who see bullfighting as a tradition worth protecting," says Rull. "But there's a larger group - I count myself among them - that believes we shouldn't treat the torture of animals as a public spectacle anymore." (Read "In Spain...
...clav Klaus doesn't hide his scorn of the European Union. The irascible Czech President refuses to fly the E.U. flag over Prague Castle. He argues that climate change - targeted in one of the E.U.'s signature policies - is a myth. On his only visit to the European Parliament, in February, he bluntly compared the E.U. to the Soviet Union. So it is no surprise that the 68-year-old former economist should try to sink the Lisbon Treaty, which aims to overhaul the E.U.'s decision-making process and has been a decade in the making...
...Because both houses of the Czech parliament have endorsed the treaty, Klaus is constitutionally bound to sign it. But he could delay that until his last day in office, four years from now. In theory, the president could face impeachment for refusing to sign. But both Klaus and his Bene? complaint have broad popular backing, and the country's technocratic government is trying to negotiate a settlement with the other E.U. member states...