“Climate Change Does Not Interest Spanish Politicians”

The Animalista Party PACMA is looking forward to the European Parliament Elections on Sunday May 26 after the 326,045 votes obtained in the last Spanish General Elections, which led to notable growth. Because of the distribution of seats through the d’Hondt law, it has not achieved parliamentary representation but, as the European electoral system is completely different, if it maintains the number of votes it could enter the European Parliament.

Silvia Barquero, president of PACMA, is the party’s candidate for these elections. Enter their proposals: continue to delegitimize hunting, as PACMA already does in Castilla y León, and oppose bullfighting, the transport of live animals, macro-farms, animals destined for consumption or slaughter in kennels.

A candidacy in favor of animals and the environment

–What is the main proposal of PACMA?
–We are facing the greatest planetary threat that humanity has ever experienced: climate change. We will make our fight to stop it the fundamental axis of our work in Europe. We hope that many people will support us before it is too late.

– What does your party contribute to this electoral campaign?
–It is serving to bring to the voters a candidacy in favor of animals and the environment, a social concern that has been ignored by the rest of the parties. In the face of climate change and animal abuse, a political option like PACMA is more necessary than ever.

– How can you contribute against climate change?
– Anyone has been able to see that climate change does not concern or interest Spanish politicians. Meanwhile, PACMA has followed the dictates of the FAO and the United Nations, which urge us to change our eating habits to reduce the impact of meat production on our environment and our own health, and promote diets based on plant-based proteins. .

– The fight against bullfighting is its banner. Could you slow them down in their results?
–The positive results of PACMA in the last elections have become a headache for bullfighters. More and more people support us, and this is what will lead us to achieve the abolition of the most cruel and shameful spectacle in all of Europe.

Alliance of eleven European animalist parties

– In what relation of advantage and disadvantage does PACMA feel compared to other European animal groups?
–PACMA has formed an alliance with eleven European animal rights parties with whom we will work from Brussels to protect animals, the environment and people’s health. I am convinced that we are going to become a major lobby group in the European Parliament.

– What proposals could convince voters who do not understand the impact that PACMA animalism can have on their lives?
–We people who make up PACMA believe that empathy, the ability to put oneself in the place of others, is a universal value, an excellent tool, which should be promoted to end inequalities, discrimination and injustices. And on that axis we have countless proposals in our electoral program, such as a commitment to public health and quality education for all or the fight against tax fraud.

Our commitment is to work for a fairer world for everyone, including animals.

– The objective of replacing intensive livestock farming with organic farming would already be a very big turn in the economy, the health of people and the ecosystem, because many pesticides would be eliminated. How long do you expect this to happen?
-The changes are already taking place. But the process must be accelerated because the consequences of not doing so are very serious for animals, the health of the planet and people. So we consider it essential to urgently eliminate subsidies to livestock that come from Europe.

– One of the criticisms of animalism is that it defends environmentalism but only partially. Wouldn’t it be time to represent growing environmental concern with an even greener spin?
-Totally. The best way we have at PACMA to unite both demands is by fighting against intensive livestock farming, which mistreats animals, pollutes our rivers and our air, and destroys our health. We talk about all this in the documentary Osona, which we premiered in Barcelona to kick off this electoral campaign.

–Ecologists in Action has included electromagnetic pollution among its topics of interest due to its worrying effects on animals, the environment and people; even more so with 5G, which will multiply radiation, which is why independent science calls for its moratorium. Does PACMA have a position on this?
–I belonged to Ecologists in Action for many years, and I consider that their work is fundamental. We have included almost all their environmental proposals in our electoral program to work on them from the European Parliament. Specifically, on electromagnetism we do not have scientific reports that have allowed us to take a position in one direction or another, but we assume 100% those related to curbing climate change, promoting renewable energies or the decarbonization of transport.