The judges of the Superior Court of Justice of Navarre have ruled that the processing stables do not harm the welfare of livestock and that, moreover, wanting to ban them violates the freedom of enterprise. They have therefore rejected the foral decree approved in 2019 by the Government of Navarra, which expressly prohibits the installation of these cows farms. The Government can now present resources and looks as if it can continue with the controversy that has arisen.
In March 2019, Councillor Isabel Elizalde approved the decree establishing that a beef warehouse in Navarre will have a maximum of 1,250 people and that if it is older it will not be opened anymore. With this decree, the Government of Navarre responded to the concern raised between farmers and ecologists over the increase in the large cattle population of the cooperative Valle de Odieta in Caparroso, which has so far 3,500 cows, with the addition of so many other heads. Not only that, the company intends to build a larger barn in Noviercas (Soria), with 20,000 cumulative cows to produce 180 million milk a year, the EHNE trade union said in its day. In the face of protests over the collapse of the 168 farms that are already building in the territory, the Parliament of Navarre also opposed the Soria project.
The judges of the Superior Court of Justice of Navarre, Valle de Odieta, have argued that the Government of Navarre has annulled the main arguments on which the decree is based: the judges have decided that giant jeans do not entail special health risks, such as ensuring the welfare of animals and that, on the contrary, the authorities have prevented the freedom of enterprise by limiting the heads of each farm.
There are great movements all over the world against the gigantic stables, as the case of Mille Vaches in France shows, and surely the conflict here too will continue.